


there's nothing to do here, all just lie and complain

by MarsBar2019



Series: I won't give up [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Cunnilingus, Dirty Talk, Dirty Thoughts, Domestic, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hornantine 2020, Isolation, Masturbation, Multiple Orgasms, Quarantine, Rimming, Slow Burn, Tails, Teaching, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, and there was only one bed, it's about the yearning, jester lavorre is an agent of chaos, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:54:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 39,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24136168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarsBar2019/pseuds/MarsBar2019
Summary: Caleb and Jester have been exposed to chaos phage, and Rosohna law requires them to isolate for at least a week. Jester is pretty sure she's going to be bored out of her mind stuck in this tiny cottage for seven whole days, but...maybe she'll think of something.Yes, I wrote a quarantine fic. Sorry, my fingers slipped. Tags updated as we go.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast
Series: I won't give up [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049192
Comments: 159
Kudos: 545





	1. coming and going, asleep and awake

“I am sorry, Essek, I do not mean to question your authority, but don't you think this is a bit extreme?"

Jester fidgeted from side to side, watching Caleb and Essek go back and forth. The Shadowhand shook his head grimly.

“Unfortunately, I do not. For the safety of your companions, and others you may come into contact with, the both of you need to be remitted to a safe location immediately.”

“Can we at least get our stuff?” Jester asked. She was perturbed, to say the least. The bites they’d gotten from the slaad out in the Barbed Fields didn’t seem to be that big of a deal; even Caleb was hardly injured and she’d stitched them both up easily with a simple spell, not even a very powerful one. She’d tried explaining to Essek that she or Caduceus could cast any number of spells to cure disease, and that she'd cast one on them both already, but he was unreceptive.

“This is simply the law, Jester. Those who may have been exposed to diseases like these, that are dangerous and transmissible, have to be quarantined. You could turn at any time, and the creature would assume your previous shape. Before we knew it we’d have two very powerful and virtually undetectable spellcasting slaads loose in the city. I am sure that a restoration spell as you are describing has eliminated the possibility that you are carrying the chaos phage, but you are still required to isolate for a full seven days. I have secured a safe place for you to do so, in the outskirts of the Corona district.”

“Don’t you think we are safest where we are?” Caleb asked, gesturing to the rest of the Nein. “If we were to become slaads, the people best equipped to handle the situation are right here.” Essek shook his head.

“Even if that were true - which it is not, due to the possibility of your infecting them even before you turned - it remains the law that those exposed must be in complete isolation. I’m sorry, Caleb, Jester, it is simply what has to happen. It’s only a week. If you are refusing to do so-” Caleb waved him off.

“Nein, we are not refusing. Or - I am not refusing. I do not want to speak for Jester. It is excessive, that is all.”

“It’s fine,” Jester agreed. “I’ll go.” Essek nodded.

“Pack your things, then, and I will escort you to the house. One hour.”

The next hour was a flurry of activity for Jester. She packed as many clothes as she could fit into her bag - _am I going to want to wear this? What about this? But what if I want that instead? This is comfortable - but this is pretty!_ \- and packed a second bag, lent by Beau, with books, paints, her journal, anything she could think of.

“Ugh, Beau, I’m going to be _so. Bored._ What am I going to do for an entire week if I can’t leave the house?!”

“You can hang out with Caleb,” Beau snorted. “Or watch grass grow. Both equally interesting.” Jester groaned. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Caleb - actually, she didn’t think he was boring at all - but she didn’t think Caleb really liked hanging out with her. Jester packed anything that she might want to do - nail polish, knitting needles and yarn, bath oil, the map of Wildemount she was working on, even a few small canvases that she could use to start new paintings. Of course, it didn’t surprise her that when she dashed down the stairs and out the front door, Caleb already had Jannik saddled, with his small pack and a sack of provisions securely attached to the sides. When he saw her, loaded down, the corner of his mouth quirked up in a small smile.

“Well, at least you will have plenty to do,” he teased, taking one of her bags to tie it to Jannik’s other side. The Nein was in the front yard outside the Xhorhaus, waving furiously from a distance, as Essek had instructed - no goodbye hugs, everyone had to stay at least an arm’s length away from them.

“Bye, Fjord! Bye, Nott! Bye, everyone!” Jester blew kisses to her friends as she hiked up her skirts to mount Jannik. “Be back soon! Unless we turn into horrible gross monsters!” Caleb chuckled quietly and raised a hand in a gesture of farewell.

“Well, at least one of us won’t be bored,” Jester said, returning to Caleb’s earlier comment. “You barely have anything, you’re going to be _so_ bored.”

“I have my books,” Caleb replied, directing Jannik to follow Essek’s gliding shape into the distance.

“ _All_ of them? You have a lot of books, Caleb.”

“I do, but I brought enough to keep me busy.”

They rode in companionable silence for a little while, and as they did, Jester started to get a little nervous about what this isolation might entail. If they needed anything, they could always message one of their friends to help. That wasn’t the problem. Jester was realizing, as they rode, that she had never really spent very much time alone with Caleb before. Sure, they lived together, but with so many other people - she couldn’t say she knew anything about his habits, or what he was like in private. They were going to be spending a _lot_ of time together and she felt her stomach flip a little at the unknown quantity of what that would be. Jester didn’t even really know what Caleb thought about her - she was younger than him, by almost a decade, and a lot of things he wasn’t. She was loud and brash and impulsive. Did he find her annoying? They did have some things that they both liked - they traded books back and forth, mostly trashy romance novels, but still, and he enjoyed many of the same whimsical things that she did, when he let himself. Well, it’d be an interesting week to say the least.

After a short time, probably an hour or so of Jannik lumbering slowly as Essek showed them the way to the safe house, he stopped outside a small cottage, isolated on the outskirts of town.

“How were you able to get a place so fast, Essek?” Jester asked, walking over with her bags over her shoulder. “Is it because you’re super important?” Essek cracked the slightest of smiles.

“No, not quite. You may be familiar with the phenomenon, I’m not quite learned in tiefling biology, but drow go into heat every five to ten years. It comes on quite suddenly, so people are often needing these types of secluded locations on a last minute's notice if they are planning to wait it out. There's lots of little places like this available all over the city.”

“Oh, okay. No, tieflings don’t have that. I mean, I don’t think.” Essek laughed a little.

“You’d probably know by now. But we have very long lifespans, so limited fertility helps prohibit a population expanding beyond its means.” Essek gestured to the front door. “This is your home for the next seven days. Should you need any assistance that your friends are unable to provide, you know how to reach me. Should you find that you are developing symptoms of the chaos phage…reach out. We can help. Any questions?”

Jester glanced at Caleb, who shook his head. She was sure she’d think of all kinds of questions once Essek had left. He handed her a key to the front door, waved once and poofed off in a cloud of teleportation mist. _Home sweet prison for the next week_ , she thought sourly.

“Oh it’s cute!” Jester exclaimed when they opened the door. The cottage was small, but sweet, with a woodstove, a comfortable looking sitting area and a set of bookshelves. Jester peered inside and set her bags down just inside the door.

“I’m gonna go look around at the garden, since it might be the only outside time I get to have until next week,” she announced, slipping past Caleb to exit the cottage. The house was really on the edge of the Corona district, and the view out to the flatlands was pretty breathtaking. Whoever owned the house had managed to get some grass and flowers growing, and Jester sat out there for a long while, watching the movements of birds. The breeze in her hair felt nice, the grass tickling her bare legs where her skirt had rucked up.

Jester really didn’t want to be stuck inside this house all week, but if she had to be…it could be worse. At least the view was nice.

She wasn’t sure how long she was out there but eventually, she picked herself up and went back inside, hefting her bags over her shoulder as she passed through the doorway. Jester walked through the sitting area, through the kitchen, and up a narrow flight of stairs, looking for a bedroom to put her things. There were only two doors on the second floor, one of which opened onto a small, cozy bedroom. Caleb was kneeling over his bag, rummaging through it, when he saw her enter.

“Oh! Jester - sorry, I hope it is alright that I put my things up here. You should take this room though, I can sleep downstairs.”

Jester furrowed her brow and looked around, processing a moment later that in addition to the woodstove and vanity, there was only one large bed in the center of the room.

“Oh, don’t be silly, Cayleb,” she said, dropping her bags near the vanity. “It’s stupid for you to sleep on the couch, though I appreciate you trying to be a gentleman.” She saw in the mirror that his cheeks darkened at her teasing and smiled. “I share with Beau when we travel all the time. It’s fine.”

“Uh, ja, okay, if it is alright with you. But if you change your mind, really, I do not mind taking the couch, or the floor.” Jester rolled her eyes.

“What kind of cleric do you take me for that I would let you get your back all messed up sleeping on the _floor_?” Caleb laughed at that, still looking through his pack. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he pulled out his writing tools and a few books, starting to leaf through one already as he rose and exited the bedroom. Jester bit her lip and huffed out a sigh, her eyes lingering on the bed. What was the protocol here? Was she supposed to wear regular clothes to bed instead of her nightgown? What if her skirt rode up in the middle of the night? That would be embarrassing…. Were they supposed to roll up a quilt or something to put between them? What if she talked in her sleep or something? Jester had shared a bed with Beau plenty of times, and the group all slept in cramped quarters on the road, but she’d never slept in bed with a man before, and that felt different.

 _It’s funny_ , she thought, _how you can grow up watching all kinds of private things happen between people, and tell stories that make sailors blush - but something like sleeping in bed with someone feels like a big deal._ For her age, Jester was fairly sexually inexperienced, but she knew a lot about sex and it didn’t frighten her. It was everything else, everything that usually came before and after, that was a mystery and raised nerves in her stomach. Even though her mind wasn’t really going _there_ with Caleb, the close quarters made her keenly aware of the intimacy of the situation.

Jester felt that again later, when they sat down in the evening to eat the leftover baked pasta from last night’s dinner that Caduceus sent them with. It was just weird, eating dinner with Caleb alone, especially since she knew she’d probably be carrying the conversation.

“This place is super cute, isn’t it?” Jester tried after a minute of silence. “I think I had a little dollhouse just like this when I was a kid.” Caleb smiled a little.

“It looks like the house I grew up in.” Jester raised her eyebrows before she could help herself. She didn’t know anything about Caleb’s life before they met, and he seemed to very intentionally never talk about it. She was surprised to hear him reference it at all.

“That sounds really nice,” she said carefully. “Did you like it?”

“Ja, it was very nice. It was a little bigger than this. I grew up on a farm. Bit more space there.”

“I wish I grew up on a farm,” Jester admitted, stabbing more pasta onto her fork. “That sounds really great.” Now it was Caleb’s turn to be surprised.

“You do? I apologize, I do not mean to sound so shocked - it’s just, we met your mother, she was lovely, and the Chateau…. It just seems like you did not want for very much.” Jester shrugged, glancing up at him. She was taken aback by the intensity of his gaze, bright blue eyes that seemed to pierce right through her, and she looked away again quickly.

“Oh, I loved the Chateau, and my Mama, obviously, everything was really perfect there. The other ladies there were like a bit group of aunts and they all loved me and hung out with me. And my Mama made sure I had anything I needed or wanted, I was really lucky like that because she made a lot of money, you know? But…I don’t know. Before I left Nicodranas, leaving the Chateau to go to a shop was an adventure. It was nice, but…I spent most of my life in a bedroom.”

“A gilded cage,” Caleb interjected quietly. She lifted her eyes to meet his, a rush of _something_ radiating out from her chest.

“Yeah, kind of. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful for everything my Mama gave me, Cayleb, I know you didn’t have a lot of money growing up. I was really lucky. I didn’t go hungry or cold, I was just…lonely, I guess. And even that, I had the Traveler so I wasn’t _super_ lonely. I had a good childhood. But I can’t help but think growing up on a farm, having all that _space_ , getting to just go off wherever, hanging out with other kids…. I don’t know, that sounds like it would have been nice, when I was a kid.”

“I was an only child too,” Caleb said quietly, lacing his fingers in front of him. “I mean, I had friends, but I can understand that. I spent a lot of time alone.”

“What was the best part, though? Not the sad stuff.” She saw a flicker of pain cross his face and regretted her words.

“Ah, well, it was nice to live in a small town. There were festivals for the major holidays and the whole town would come out. When I was a kid, they were the best days of the year, because we went out at night, which was always exciting as a child. And the town square would be lit up, there was music and dancing and festival foods. When I was older, some of that lost its novelty, but it was an excuse for young people to ask one another on dates and spend time with their friends. So the festivals were probably my favorite part.” Jester grinned.

“Ooh, I bet you had lots of cute girls who hoped you’d ask them,” she teased, mainly to make Caleb blush, which he did fiercely.

“Ah, well, that part of my life is over,” Caleb demurred with a small smile.

“Not denying it, though!” Jester held out her hand for his empty plate, which he handed to her; when her fingertips brushed his, she felt lightning radiate down her arm and froze. It took her a second too long to release her grip on the plate and when he turned his back, she blinked hard and shook her head. _What was_ that?

The feeling of trepidation that had been swirling around Jester for the half-day they’d been in the house only increased the more tired she got. She was lying on the couch until quite late, reading one of her novels while Caleb hunched over his books a the table, until she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore.

“I think I’m gonna go to bed,” she announced with a yawn, swinging her legs off the couch. Maybe if she was the first one to bed, she wouldn’t feel so weird about the whole bed situation. Caleb nodded, glancing up from his book.

“Good night, Jester.”

“Can I take Frumpkin?” Caleb looked over at Frumpkin, who was lounging on the couch in the warm spot from Jester’s body.

“You want to go with Jester? Come on, you heard the lady. Look lively.” Frumpkin trotted over. Jester beamed and scooped the spotted cat up into her arms.

“Thanks, Cayleb!” She ascended the stairs, scratching Frumpkin behind the ears. “You should sleep at the end of the bed so you keep my feet warm.”

Jester set Frumpkin down on the bed and started her bedtime routine, brushing her hair, taking her jewelry out of her ears and horns, cleaning her face, rubbing lotion into her face and hands and applying a thin layer of oil over her horns to keep them moisturized. Even when they were on the road, sleeping on the ground, she tried to keep up with this small set of rituals. She'd grown up doing these things, when she got old enough, with her mother before bed. It felt civilized in a way that the life she had now easily undermined, and as a result, it was important to her to maintain it. As she undressed for bed, she tried to talk herself down from the nerves twisting in her stomach.

_You’re being ridiculous. There is nothing weird about this and you are totally overreacting._

Jester sighed and pulled her nightgown over her head. She didn’t think it was particularly revealing, but suddenly the black cotton slip she’d worn to bed for years felt inappropriately sexy. _Get it together._ She tried to remember the outfits she saw her mother and other women wear around the Chateau when they had appointments, the silky things in her mother’s drawers that she pulled out and held up to herself in the mirror as a teenager, and the _other_ things she was too embarrassed to even touch. _See? This is not what people wear when they’re trying to be sexy. Go to bed._

Jester pulled back the covers and slid into bed, and after a bit of tossing and turning, fell asleep easily. She wasn’t sure how long she was asleep before Caleb’s footsteps up the stairs woke her. She blinked her eyes open but lay still, hoping to avoid conversation, though she knew Caleb couldn’t see in the dark and probably wouldn’t even notice her if she did move.

She wasn’t trying to spy, really, but her curiosity eventually overtook her and she rolled over cautiously, one eye open. Jester, for better or worse, had always been nosy. She thought that the things people did when they thought they were alone, even if it was just how they got ready for bed, told you a lot about them, and Caleb was the one member of the Nein that had proved an extraordinarily difficult nut for her to crack. She watched every movement as he set his books back on the nightstand, leaning down to pet Frumpkin, who had stretched out on the opposite side of the bed from Jester as soon as Caleb entered.

He was clearly trying to be quiet, thinking she was asleep. She watched as he pulled a book out of his holster, a very worn one with a cracked leather cover, and made his way over to the window, where the moonlight was spilling in. Caleb crossed one long leg behind him and balanced the book on the windowsill, scribbling a few notes. Waiting for the ink to dry, he sighed and stared out at the wastelands. Jester noticed the way the pale moonlight illuminated his elegant fingers and red hair, making it glow bright and brilliant against his pale skin. She tried to commit the image to memory; it made her kind of sad that Caleb couldn’t see himself like this. Maybe if he had better eyes, he wouldn’t think so poorly of himself.

Caleb ran a hand through his hair and turned away from the window, his blue eyes staring right at her. Jester’s heart stopped, feeling “caught” even though she hadn’t been doing anything wrong. She tried to regulate her breathing, her pulse falling back to normal when his eyes left her and she remembered that he couldn’t see in the dark. She watched as Caleb stepped over to his pack and unbuckled his book holsters, slipping the leather straps up over his head and placing it on his bag. When he pulled his shirt up over his head, revealing creamy white skin dotted with freckles, strong shoulders, Jester’s breath caught in her throat. Her stream of consciousness paused for a second, just watching the movement of muscle under pale skin, her artist's senses kicking in and drinking in the lines and shadows, noticing how the light dappled across scars and ridges of bone. Caleb turned again, unfolding a sleep shirt and walking back to the beside table. Jester’s heart pounded in her chest as she took in his sharp collarbones, the chain of his amulet drawing her eyes down to a dusting of auburn chest hair, the lines of his hips, patterns of freckles and - _oh_ \- a thin trail of copper that disappeared under the waist of his pants.

Cheeks burning, Jester squeezed her eyes shut and flipped over. Her face was so hot she felt like it ought to be glowing, but she kept her breathing even and willed herself to stay still, clutching her blankets up around her. _Get a grip, girl. What are you, fourteen?_ Jester felt the other end of the mattress dip as Caleb climbed into bed, carefully positioning himself as far away from her as possible. Frumpkin hopped up on the bed and circled a few times, settling between them with a contented purr.

 _Relax. You’ve seen this before. Not a big deal._ Her efforts to convince herself were less than effective. Maybe it was because before, Jester hadn’t really been _looking_ per se, but damn, he was _handsome_. Had she really just…not noticed? She wasn’t alarmed by the sight of Caleb's body - really, she had seen this before, and her upbringing had handily desensitized her to nudity - but by her involuntary reaction to it. The sudden fluttering of her heart, the clenching of her stomach, that wasn’t really adding up. This entire _day_ had been bizarre, she’d felt self-conscious about the stupidest things, things she never would’ve thought twice about in any other circumstance. _Really, this is just because you’ve never really spent any time alone together._ The more Jester thought about it, the more she realized that kind of was what was going on _._ She thought about Caleb in the context of the Nein, as a friend, a team member.The intimacy of the situation they had been thrown into was forcing her to think about him as a man, and that was a very sudden turn for her brain.

 _Okay, so you’re attracted to him. So what?_ The way she saw it, she had two choices. Ignore it, let the week pass. It’d be easier not to feel awkward once she was back home and had a little more breathing room, and it'd probably go away. Or…she could go for it. Try to seduce him. Even if he didn’t bite, it’d be fun trying, she’d still get to watch him sweat. And if he did…well, that would certainly make this week of forced isolation more exciting.

One week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely going to be one of my multi-chapter 30-50k word monstrosities, but if folks like it and want to see more, please let me know! Encouraging feedback on my most recent long fic motivated me to finish super quickly, so if you like it and want more - the author is a vending machine into which kudos and comments are inserted and new chapters are dispensed.


	2. in bed at the hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I am thrilled at the feedback! The encouragement is appreciated and motivated me to finish the next bit. Looking forward to hearing folks' thoughts! :D

When Jester woke up in the morning, her mind was made up. She was alone, just her and Frumpkin, and the spotted cat stretched out and climbed into her lap once she sat up.

“Hi, buddy,” she cooed, stroking his soft fur. “What are we doing today? Painting?” Frumpkin, in typical cat fashion, didn’t offer an opinion.

When Jester was packing yesterday, she’d felt kind of silly bringing some of her cuter clothes, but she was in such a panic she had just grabbed whatever was clean. Now that she’d decided to embark on this seduction mission, she was glad she’d brought them.

She chose one of her favorite skirts, cotton fabric lightly dyed with varying shades of blue and just a few hints of orangey-pink. It reminded her of a watercolor painting of the ocean and she’d been so excited when her mother gave it to her. She tucked in her white linen shirt and brushed her hair, put on her jewelry. Jester examined herself critically in the mirror. _Super cute. Casual, but pretty. You don’t look dressed up._ She nodded at her reflection approvingly.

Here was the only problem: Jester didn’t actually know how to do it. The looking cute part of the plan was under control - look pretty but casual, and grown up. Check. ….Now what?

She sat at the vanity and opened her sketchbook to think through her approach. She could be super direct, but that would probably just scare him off. She didn’t want to be too subtle either, because he’d definitely miss it, and she didn’t have all year to get him to pick up her signals. _Get to know him better. Step one._ Once she had that, she could move on to step two. Whatever that was.

She had no idea what time it was, she never did in Rosohna, with its perpetual night. When she went downstairs, she saw Caleb at the table in the living room, with his books again, and a cup of coffee. That didn’t tell her much either. Caleb drinking coffee could mean it was noon, 4 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning. He didn’t keep regular sleeping hours, she knew that much.

“Good morning!” she sang, carrying Frumpkin in her arms like a baby. Caleb jumped a little and turned around to look at her.

“Ah, good morning, Jester.” Frumpkin started to meow when he saw Caleb and he held his arms out to take the cat. She deposited Frumpkin in his arms and looked over his work.

“What are you working on?” Jester leaned over the table, folding her arms under her chest. If that pushed her cleavage out a little bit…whoops. She did notice with satisfaction how his eyes flickered to the of freckled blue skin exposed by the V-neck of her shirt, and how his cheeks turned pink as he averted his gaze. Caleb cleared his throat and pushed his books toward her a little.

“You can look if you’d like. I’m not sure how much sense it will make to someone without arcane training.” Jester pulled the other chair around. The page in front of her was, to her eyes, an incomprehensible mess of glyphs and notations, half of the written notes in a language she didn’t even recognize and the other half in Zemnian. She pushed the book back to him.

“Yeah, I’m not sure I’m smart enough for this,” she laughed, leaning back. Caleb looked up at her, his brow furrowed.

“ _Nein,_ that is not true at all. You just have not been taught the skills. If you had spent half your life with your nose buried in books, like me, it would be as simple to you as reading a novel.” He gave her a small smile. “And you are very intelligent. You could learn it easily.”

Jester felt a little warmth rush into her face at the compliment. She suddenly felt a little shy again.

“Thanks, Cayleb. That’s nice of you to say. When I sat in on that lesson with you and Essek, I really didn’t understand anything you were talking about.” Caleb shook his head.

“That is because Essek…excuse me for saying so, he has been very generous to our group, but…he has a bit of an ego. He is the kind of person who takes pride in discussing things that nobody else in the room understands. And…that day, when you sat in with us. He was very rude to you. I regret that I did not speak up.”

“Oh, it’s okay, really. I could have said something, if it really bothered me.” He nodded.

“I know you can stick up for yourself. Still, I wish that I had.”

“Well, maybe, you could teach me something,” she suggested sweetly. “Then we’ll be even. If you want.” His blue eyes met hers again and he smiled. Jester’s heart was pounding.

“If you like. I am not sure that I make a very good teacher, but I could show you a few things. But you have to teach me something too, then, ja? You were right, what you said that day with Essek, you could teach lots of things.”

“Okay!” Jester nodded excitedly. “What do you want to learn?” _I can think of a few things I’d like to teach you…_

“Oh, um…I am not sure," he admitted.

“I’m good at drawing. I could teach you that?”

“Ja, sure, that sounds good.” Jester sighed in apparent relief.

“Thank _gods_ because I thought this week was gonna be _so_ boring.” Caleb chuckled.

“I hate to think what you would do if you were bored.” _You, I hope._ Jester smiled coyly and shrugged.

“Who knows?” She leaned over the table again, folding her arms to push her breasts out a little. A little thrill of satisfaction went through her when she saw his gaze flicker down to them again. “So what’s first? I’m ready for my lesson, _Professor_.” Caleb blushed bright red.

“Ah, well, I am, uh, not a teacher, so, um, well - ah, j-just let me get my books.” With that, he pushed away from the table and bolted up to the bedroom. Jester, feeling quite smug, sat back, reaching her arm out to stroke Frumpkin. Her intuition was right, this _was_ really fun. She actually did want to learn about the arcane, that wasn’t a farce. For all her facility with it, she was a vessel for the Traveler and her power came from him. She didn’t really know very much about how it actually worked.

“Alright, so, I have some rune charts in this book. Let’s start there.” Caleb, still a little red-faced, returned to the table, spreading out even more books. He opened to a page that contained dozens of runes and set it in front of Jester. As he pulled his chair up next to hers, Jester was suddenly aware of his proximity, his shoulder brushing against hers, his long legs stretched out under the table right next to hers.

“Do you know the schools of magic?” Caleb asked, turning the book toward her. Jester nodded.

“I think so. Divination, transmutation, necromancy…ummm….abjuration? Annnnnd illusion and conjuration…shit, what are the others?”

“No, that was good,” Caleb said, encouraging. “The only ones you missed were evocation and enchantment. And dunamancy, but that will not be in this book. Each of the schools has a central rune that you must master. The other runes that make up the glyph build on that central rune. Does that make sense?” Jester nodded. She peeked up from the book to look at him. He looked _excited_ and the animation on his face was new to her, making her heart flip in her chest. She found herself staring at his profile, following the line of his jaw, the curve of his lips. She pinched herself under the table. _Snap out of it. You’ve got to get_ laid _, girl._

“Jester?”

“Oh! Sorry, I - was thinking about the…thing you just said.” A stupidly handsome little smile teased at the corner of his mouth and he raised his eyebrows.

“Which was…?”

“About the glyphs. And the central rune.” She was going to be the best godsdamned student ever. Prove that stupid Essek didn’t know anything about her. If she could only focus…. He nodded.

“Ja, okay. So you see this one here?” He pointed to a rune shaped like a V, with two lines running through it horizontally. “It is called Sadanna.”

“Sada-na,” she repeated slowly. The word felt like honey on her tongue. Like power. He nodded.

“ _Gut._ That is the primary rune for conjuration spells. Now, the next-“ Caleb pointed to another, shaped like a wide horseshoe with curls coming out the ends. “Napurukama. Necromancy.” Jester repeated after him, though this one took a little longer. He was patient, guiding her through each pronunciation.

“Excellent.” Caleb slid his fingerer to the next rune, which looked like a crown of thorns, with a pair of lines crossed in the center. “Ivat Kirima. Evocation. That is, ah, the school that used to be my specialization.” Jester looked up at him, questioning.

“Used to be? What is it now?” He pointed to a fourth rune, two long lines with a third laying over the top. “Parivartanaya. Transmutation.”

“Okay, I definitely don’t think I can say that,” Jester giggled.

“You can, just try. One syllable at a time, ja?“ This one took many more tries, especially with her accent, but she got it, the word falling from her tongue like it had _weight_.

They ran through the remaining runes: Pena Kima, divination; Raevatima, enchantment; Ahosi Kirima, abjuration; Mityavak, illusion. Jester pulled out her sketchbook and began to copy them down. She held it between them so Caleb could watch and correct her writing, and when he leaned in to look at the Parivartanaya she’d made, his hair brushed her cheek and she felt that same burst of lightning radiate through her at the contact.

“Ah, do not forget the little tail that goes on the end there,” he murmured, pointing to the right side of the rune. His hand wrapped around hers, the touch making her blood pound in her ears, and guided her to make the little protrusion.

“So you see, like this-“ Caleb turned to look at her, his expression freezing in surprise and Jester’s breath caught in her throat. His face was just inches from hers, she could, if she wanted, just go for it… “Ah, um, ja, y-you just want to make sure to get all the little flourishes.” When his brain started working again, he dropped her hand like it was on fire and shifted quickly so he wasn’t sitting so close to her. Jester’s cheeks were hot, and she knew her complexion hid it well, especially compared to his beet red face, but she still felt embarrassment washing over her at the thought that he might see it.

Their lesson lasted a few more hours; Caleb had her practice the runes dozens more times, until she could draw each one easily.

“Are those all there are?” she asked. These eight didn’t seem like very many. A smile tugged at the edge of his mouth.

“Nein, there are many, many more. Hundreds. But you have done very well, these are the first things any self-respecting arcanist must learn. You are a natural at the copying, I am sure it helps that you are an artist.” Caleb opened his own spell book and showed her a page. “So you see, all of these runes around the edges here, they build off the central one. But that is why I have this, to remember the patterns, I do not have every single rune memorized.” Jester leaned back and sighed, crossing her arms.

“Hoo. This is a lot of work. No wonder wizards are a bunch of wrinkly old men before they can do anything cool.” Caleb raised an eyebrow.

“You know I am a wizard, right? I am an old man, but last I checked I can at least still say I am not wrinkled.” Jester giggled.

“Obviously I didn’t mean _you._ You’re not old and you’re super powerful and stuff. So, Professor Widogast, am I a good student?” Jester smirked at the sight of his blush.

“Ja, a very good student.” To her surprise, this time he didn’t break eye contact with her right away. _That’s interesting._ He turned back to his books and ran a hand over his stubbled chin. “I am afraid I may not be as quick a learner when it is your turn to be the teacher.” Jester beamed.

“Well I’ll be the judge of that. Thanks for teaching me, Cayleb. Can we do more tomorrow?”

“Of course. Any time you want.” She stood from the table.

“I’m gonna go read upstairs for a little bit but later I can teach you about drawing okay?” He nodded.

“I look forward to your tutelage, _Professorin_.” Jester felt a shiver go up her spine, feeling those blue eyes on her as she left the room. _Is he flirting back with me?_ It felt like cheating, if it really was that easy. Jester unbuttoned her skirt and let it drop to the floor, sliding into bed. She wanted to be comfortable and nothing was less comfortable than having the waistband of a skirt dig into your ribs when you were laying down. The price of looking good, she supposed. Settling between the covers in her white linen shirt and lavender underwear, she took her book off the nightstand and opened to the spot she’d bookmarked. The book was about a forbidden romance between a half-drow queen and her human astrologer. She was about halfway through, and it was just getting really good.

_“Your Majesty, I apologize for bothering you, but the High Astrologer is here. Did you send for him?”_

_Annoyance crawled under Luaril’s skin. Did he want them to get caught? She realized she’d hesitated a moment too long and so she called back to Zilvue,_

_“Yes, thank you. Send him in. You may retire for the evening.”_

_“As you wish, Your Majesty.” As Adi entered her chambers, she narrowed her amethyst eyes at him. The sight of his steely grey eyes, his soft black hair that brushed his neck, softened her a bit, the familiar warmth in his face taking the edge off her anger. However, she still had to think of how it looked._

_“Adi, I believe I was quite clear about the need for discretion,” she said sternly, crossing her arms. Her red silk robe slid against her chest in quite a distracting way, but she tried to ignore it._

_“I know, I know, I’m very sorry,” he said. “Your Majesty.” The honorific was almost an afterthought. Luaril raised one white eyebrow at him._

_“Then how do you explain your showing up at my door at this hour of the evening like I’m some two-silver madam off the street?” Adi hung his head and stepped towards her._

_“I really am sorry, I didn’t mean to - compromise you. I wasn’t thinking. I just…needed to see you again.”_

_Before Luaril could stop herself, she was on him, her hands grasping his shirt, pulling him to her. His mouth was warm and soft, and she could forget all about her responsibilities, her image, anything. In that moment, she was a woman kissing a man and she wanted him desperately._

Jester could feel the heat growing between her legs, and she squirmed, hissing out a breath at the pleasure that bolted through her as the tensing of her thighs put pressure on her clit. She eyed the doorway, which was slightly ajar. Well…she would hear him if he started coming up the stairs. Under the blanket, she let her fingers drift between her legs, stroking lightly over her underwear.

_“I need you,” she breathed against his lips, and Adi wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him and pressing his body to hers. Luaril moaned and started guiding him back, to her bed. There was a part of her that was screaming that she couldn’t keep doing this, that she was sowing the seeds of her own ruin - she pushed it down and kept kissing him. His hands were on her now, roving all over her body hungrily, pushing the silk of her robe aside to reveal her dark, smooth skin._

Jester’s need was growing more urgent, the fabric beneath her fingers damp. She pushed it aside and dipped into the wet heat beneath, her fingers sliding over slick, warm skin. Practiced fingers found her clit, swollen and wanting, and she began to massage it as she read.

_Adi’s hands reached around and squeezed her bottom, and the last shred of her self-control dissipated. Luaril let her robe fall to the floor as she knelt in front of him and began working on the laces of his trousers. He let out a delicious sound, high and needy, when he realized what she was doing. With one hand still on his pants, the hard length beneath straining against the laces, Luaril reached up and tugged at the hem of his shirt._

_“Take this off.” He obeyed readily, letting it fall to the floor beside her. She kissed over the bulge in his pants, slow, teasing, but when she looked up at him and saw the hunger in his eyes, she couldn’t wait anymore. Luaril pulled Adi’s thick, flushed manhood out of his open trousers, moaning as she slowly took him into her mouth._

Jester’s fingers were moving faster now, and she was struggling to keep focus on herself and her book at the same time that she was listening for the sound of the stairs. She tossed the book aside, letting her head fall back onto the pillow, as she slid two fingers from her other hand into her tight, burning hot passage. Dimly, she was surprised how quickly she’d gotten here; clearly she’d already been keyed up when she laid down to read. Jester enjoyed pleasuring herself, she came easily and often, but somewhere in her lust-addled brain, she knew the tension of the past few hours had her worked up before she ever opened her book.

She let her imagination take over, one hand on her clit, two fingers of the other in her velvet soft cunt, delightful images rolling through her head: pushing Caleb up against the wall and taking what she wanted, kissing him dizzy; threading her fingers through red hair and pressing him close to her as he buried his tongue between her legs. She could just picture those beautiful blue eyes looking up at her, framed by her thighs…. Another image flashed in front of her, Caleb's intense gaze on her, stopping her heart, as he sat between her legs, and she cried out - _in her head, she hoped_ \- at the imaginary feeling of two of those elegant long fingers sinking into her, opening her, preparing her -

Jester came _hard_ , her cunt clenching around her fingers, her back arching up off the bed. For a minute, everything was white, her muscles tensing, and she heard her own voice in her ears, sighing, _“Cay-“_ before she choked it back, clamping her mouth shut. Jester shuddered as she came down from her orgasm, gently removing her fingers and wiping them on her soaked panties.

She was certain he couldn’t have heard from downstairs, but she froze anyway when his footsteps sounded on the stairs, quickly pulling the sheet up around her and grabbing her book.

“Jester?” he called, cautiously. _Shit._

“Yeah?”

“Did you need me for something? I thought - I just thought I heard you calling.” Jester’s cheeks were burning with embarrassment at the thought that he had heard her cum, even though she prayed he didn’t realize it.

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” she said, faking casualness. He was silent for a second.

“Ah, okay then. I thought - okay, sorry, I was just checking. Sorry.” She heard him dash down the stairs and let out a sigh of relief, dropping her head back to the pillow. That was close. Jester peeled off her sticky underwear and dropped them into her bag. Okay, no more of that in such a small house. If she was horny…well, if she was successful in her new “project”, she’d have a set of fingers besides her own to make her cum. Longer ones, too, and at a better angle…mmmm. Jester smiled to herself and put on a clean pair of underwear, settling back in with her book. She looked over to the mirror and fussed with her hair, making it neat - though the “just been fucked” look was sexy, she thought it might be a bit of a giveaway when she went downstairs.

Six days.


	3. I've got one friend, laying across from me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know jack shit about making art so...just suspend your disbelief that this is how it works.

Caleb dropped down onto the couch and waited for his heart rate to even, the color to drain from his face.

_It probably wasn’t that at all. You shouldn’t even be thinking about that._

It had been some time since Caleb had heard the sounds of a woman’s pleasure, but he wasn’t completely oblivious. When he heard, from upstairs, what sounded like a small cry, he’d gotten up and gone to the staircase, hesitating for a moment.

_She’s probably fine._

_But what if she isn’t?_

Just then, Caleb heard another small sound, but this one he recognized. The first part of his name, breathy and quiet, but it was his name, he’d recognize it anywhere, especially the way Jester’s accent shaped it. Caleb got halfway up the staircase before he stopped again. _What if -?_ No, that was not possible.

“Jester?” he tried.

“Yeah?”

“Did you need me for something? I thought - I just thought I heard you calling.” _What if it_ was _that? And now she thinks you’re being some weird voyeur? Fuck._

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” she called.

“Ah, okay then. I thought - okay, sorry, I was just checking. Sorry.” His face hot, Caleb turned tail and hurried down the stairs. Now he felt totally ridiculous that he’d thought Jester needed him for something. He had seen her brain a man with one hand behind her back. What would she possibly need him for?

Caleb sighed and wiped a hand over his face. Okay. They were both adults here. If Jester was…doing that…well, why shouldn’t she? It was perfectly natural. He just…had to get the images out of his mind. _Be normal. She can’t read your mind._

He stretched out on the couch with his book, Frumpkin laying over his shoulders like a scarf. It helped; he was able to push the images in his mind - Jester, palming at her breast, slipping her fingers under her skirt, arching up off the bed as she breathed out his name - down long enough to get part of the way through the book of Undercommon short stories that Essek had lent him as part of his effort to learn the language.

Frumpkin didn’t last in his scarfed position for long, and after thirty minutes or so jumped down off Caleb’s shoulders and scampered off. He paid no mind until he heard Jester, from upstairs, cry out,

“Hey! Frumpkin!”

He heard Frumpkin run down the stairs before he heard Jester follow, chasing him. Caleb put his book down and looked for his cat, who had sprinted past Caleb before Caleb processed that Jester was mad.

“Frumpkin, come _back here!_ ” Jester stood at the bottom of the staircase, hands on her hips, looking around. Caleb put his hands out in the obvious question.

“What happened?” Jester huffed, blowing a strand of blue hair out of her face.

“He stole my clothes!” Caleb furrowed his brow.

“How - your clothes?” Frumpkin dashed by again, sliding under the couch in one smooth movement, between Caleb’s feet. He dropped to his knees and peered under the couch. Frumpkin was hunched in on himself, lavender fabric dangling from his mouth.

“ _Komm hier_ ,” Caleb said sternly, snapping his fingers at Frumpkin. “You are being naughty, come out here and give Jester her things.”

Fortunately, unlike a real cat, Frumpkin couldn’t refuse a direct order from Caleb. He snuck out from under the couch, dropping his treasure on the floor where Caleb was kneeling as he scampered off. Caleb picked it up and realized as Jester stepped over to him that the scrap of silk and lace in his hand was Jester’s underwear. He flushed and thrust it toward her awkwardly, trying not to make direct eye contact.

“Thanks, Cayleb,” she mumbled, pocketing the underwear. “Hey, um, we could start on that lesson I promised you, if you want?” Caleb stood and brushed off his pants.  
  
“Ja, sure, if you would like.” She smiled and he felt his heart pounding in his ears. He’d say yes to anything that made her smile like that. Jester sauntered back over to the stairs and paused before ascending, one foot on the bottom step.

“Cayleb?” He looked over at her, retrieving his book from the couch. She had a mischievous grin on her face. “Did you send Frumpkin to steal my underwear? Because that’s very unprofessional, _Professor_.” Caleb felt heat rush to his face, and he stammered,

“N-no, Jester, of course not, I would never-“ But she was already up the stairs.

“I’m just teasing you, Cayleb!” Jester called from the second floor. He sighed but couldn’t help the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. She bounded back just a few minutes later, beaming, her arms laden with drawing supplies. Caleb stared at her.

“ _Götter,_ Jester, how did you manage to pack all of that? You know we are only away from home for a week, right? Are you sure you did not mishear Essek and think we would be gone for a month?” Jester stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

“Well, if I hadn’t brought it, I wouldn’t be able to do this so you should be _thanking_ me for my _foresight_ , don’t you think?” Jester teased. He chuckled.

“Ja, I suppose I should.” Jester laid out a collection of scrap paper, colored and plain pencils, charcoal, all scattered over the table. Caleb took his seat and felt like he imagined Jester might have felt earlier, looking at his spellbook: overwhelmed.

“Okay, so there’s _so_ much I could teach you about drawing but the first thing we should do is just draw something, okay?” Caleb nodded. “If you tell Frumpkin to come sit up here, will he?”

“Ja, he should.” Caleb snapped his fingers. Frumpkin meandered from around the corner. He pointed to the table. “ _Setz dich hier hin_.” Frumpkin pounced up on the table and circled, settling himself into a comfortable position, tail tucked under his head.

“So…what do I do first?” Caleb asked, looking over at Jester, who was already sketching an outline of the cat.

“Oh you just…draw him!” Seeing Caleb’s blank stare, she picked up a piece of charcoal and handed it to him. “Start with the shape of his body. And then you fill in the other parts.” Caleb stared at his paper and put the charcoal to it. It had been many years since he was in school, but this was not the type of instruction he was used to. He was good at following precise directions, and even though he knew the stakes weren’t high, it was just Jester and they were just drawing, he didn’t want to screw it up.

He looked at Frumpkin and sketched a few light lines, and then peeked over at Jester’s paper. She was scribbling and erasing frenetically, but he could see Frumpkin already taking shape under her charcoal. Frumpkin’s body was pretty easy, that was just a circle in his current position. But then he started on the head and something about the ears just…weren’t right.

“Jester?”

“Yes, Cayleb?”

“Why…I keep trying to draw his ears but they just are not coming out right.” Jester scooted her chair out and came to stand behind him. Caleb’s pulse kicked up as she got closer.

“Okay, show me what you’re doing.” He erased the half cat ear he’d drawn and tried to do it again. Jester pressed closer to peer over his head and - _scheisse -_ he could feel his face growing hot when her ample breasts brushed against the back of his head.

“You’re too stiff,” Jester said. “Let your hand be just a little bit softer. Like look at Frumpkin’s ears, right? They’re so soft! So your hand has to be soft too. That’s why they come out looking like a triangle because your hand is too stiff.” Caleb nodded, erased and tried again.

“That’s better!” Jester encouraged. “Let me show you how I do it, okay?” Jester sat back in her seat and nudged her chair closer. Caleb tried to keep his breath regulated, hyper aware of her thigh touching his, the small movements of her body. She pushed her paper and charcoal between them.

“So if I’m drawing Frumpkin’s head, I want to show his defined ears, right? But they’re also soft, so I don’t want to make them too, like, triangular you know? You have to sort of think about how they feel. Defined, but soft. What I usually try to do is go on the softer side, because you can always add definition, you can’t really like, make it less definite I guess.” She lifted her hand from the paper and showed him. They really did look exactly like Frumpkin’s ears.

“How soft is too soft, though, do you mean that I should not press on the paper very hard?” Caleb asked, his brow furrowed. Jester shook her head.

“I’ll show you. Here-“ Jester leaned in - _oh, gods, she’s really close now_ \- and put one arm on the back of his chair. With the other, she held out her hand for his charcoal, which he gave her, and just tried to focus on anything other than the feeling of her arm across his back, her breasts against his shoulder. Jester took the charcoal and slipped her hand into his. Caleb, blushing furiously, wrapped his hand around hers.

“Do you feel how I’m holding it?” She asked. Her lips were so close to his ear, he could feel her breath on his neck. His pulse was hammering now - _just act normal, just act normal._

 _“_ J-ja.”

“Okay, so you feel how I’m holding it soft, right, like it still has some room to move in my hand? So I’m going to try to make the lines by pressing down normally, but I’m not holding the charcoal hard so that more of it touches the paper, see?” Jester moved her hand and his went with it, gliding over the paper, and when she pulled back Caleb saw that on his drawing, too, were Frumpkin’s ears. Of course, his traitorous brain reminded him of his thoughts from before, of what he suspected Jester was doing with her soft hands just an hour ago, and it took everything in him not to go invisible and run off right then.

“You can let go of my hand now,” she pointed out gently. Caleb dropped it immediately, sure he was beet red. _Get it together, how old are you?_

“Ah, sorry!“ Jester waved him off, sitting back in her seat.

“Don’t think you can flirt with the professor for a better grade, Cayleb!”Caleb turned his burning face back to his paper and tried to focus on the shape of Frumpkin’s head, _anything_ to take him away from the shameful thoughts running through his mind. _Is she flirting with you? No. Definitely not. She’s just…like that. But - maybe? You could test the waters a little?_

“I did not realize I was being graded,” he replied with a small smile, keeping his eyes on his paper.

“Oh yes, this is definitely going to be on the test,” she said with mock seriousness.

“Ah, then I will be sure to study hard, _Professorin_.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could’ve sworn he saw Jester flush. _You’re making her uncomfortable. She’s not trying to flirt with you at all._

“I am sure you will,” Jester said. He snuck a glance over at her and saw her smiling to herself, eyes firmly on her paper. _Oh. Okay. Maybe she…is?_ That felt entirely impossible, but in some, small part of his brain, the mote of possibility floated around, buoying his spirit and making him feel lightheaded.

Jester guided him through the rest of the drawing, not needing to give any more hands-on instruction as Caleb got the hang of not holding his charcoal in a death grip. He was pretty happy with his drawing at the end - until he looked over at Jester’s. Hers looked like Frumpkin might jump off the page; she’d captured every individual spot, the way the shadows fell over his spine and the reflection of the candlelight on his shiny hair. Jester saw the look on his face as he looked between the two images.

“Oh, don’t look like that, Cayleb, you did a really good job!” Jester said. She took his paper from him.

“It is not as…precise as yours,” he deferred. “But one cannot expect to be a master on the first try, ja?” Jester nodded, smiling.

“Exactly right. And I think you did great. Looking at this I feel like it really reflects how Frumpkin makes you _feel_ you know?”

“Thank you, Jester, you do not have to say that.” Caleb took the paper back from her. “But I have um, appreciated you teaching me, and I would like to learn more, maybe, if you would like.” Jester grinned from ear to ear.

“Of _course_ I can teach you more! I’m not sure how much I have to teach though, it’s not like I ever took an art class or something. I just kind of taught myself.”

“Do not discount your natural talent. It is very impressive, and takes discipline, to refine your skills this way. And you must have some skill to start with.” Jester shrugged and looked away.

“I don’t know, it’s just for fun. Plus, it’s not like, useful, you know? I mean I like it but I understand why other people don’t take it seriously.” Caleb furrowed his brow.

“Nein, Jester. It - I mean, who am I to tell you anything about yourself, but - the dedication it required for you to become so good at this, that is worth being proud of. It is no different than the years it took Beauregard to become very good at martial arts, or for me to get some facility with the arcane. You make things beautiful and that is very useful, and very important.” She looked him in the eye now, his heart racing, but his mouth was working without checking with his brain first.

“I am sorry if…anything I have said or done has ever made you feel that your talents are not worth something, or that they are just a silly thing. All I know how to do is to destroy things. You create. That is special.”

“Thanks, Cayleb,” Jester said softly. He felt doubt start to creep in at the edges of his consciousness. Had he said too much? Made her uncomfortable?

“It is an easy compliment to give,” he replied, breaking the gaze to turn towards Frumpkin. “ _Alles erledigt, Kumpel, danke.”_

“You know, if you keep talking to Frumpkin in Zemnian I’m going to make you teach me how to say some stuff in Zemnian,” Jester teased, gathering up her spare pencils and paper. He noticed she left her sketchbook and a set of pencils out.

“I shudder to think what you would want to learn,” he chuckled. She grinned.

“Yeah, you probably don’t want to know.”

Caleb settled back into his seat as Jester took her things back upstairs. _What are you trying to get out of this? You can’t. Stop flirting with her. This isn’t a good idea._

He ran a hand over his face and sighed, opening his Undercommon book again in an effort to have something that required enough of his brain to drown out the swirling thoughts of freckled blue skin and a sparkling laugh.

~~~

“I am so. Bored.” Jester flopped down on the couch, upside down, her legs hanging off the arm. “I wish we could just, like, go for a ride on Jannik or something. Anything to get out of this stupid house.”

It was evening now, or so she thought, and she felt like she’d exhausted all of her activities. She definitely hadn’t, but there was nothing she could think of she wanted to _do_ and it was only the second day. She might die here, and if she did, it would be of boredom, not the stupid chaos phage.

“….We could?” Caleb suggested tentatively, from the other end of the couch. “I mean, I know we are not supposed to. But maybe we could take him out for just you know, a little bit.” Jester nodded sagely.

“He needs his exercise after all.” The two looked at each other for a second and then sprung up, getting coats and shoes. Jester felt positively giddy with excitement. Was this really what she got excited about, after just two days of being stuck inside? With broad smiles on their faces, they both hurried out to Jannik’s pen, where the moorbounder was snuffling along the grass.

“Shh, we have to be quiet, we are _sneaking out_ ,” Jester whispered conspiratorially. Caleb grinned at her.

“Is this how stealthy you were sneaking out of your house as a teenager? Because I can see why you did not get out much.” Jester feigned offense, hand over her heart.

“I was excellent at sneaking out, I’ll have you know!” Jester shivered a little in the chill air. Caleb finished saddling Jannik and knelt down to offer her a boost up. “No looking up my skirt, Cayleb,” Jester teased as she stepped off his hand to swing her leg over the moorbounder.

“I have been nothing but a gentleman to you, Blueberry, have I not?”She reached down and gripped his forearm, pulling him up onto Jannik’s back. He settled in front of her, taking the reins in his hand. Jester was aware of all the places their bodies touched, her thighs pressed against his, his back on her chest. Her pulse rose imperceptibly, thrumming under her skin.

“Except for when you sent Frumpkin on a panty raid mission.” With her good vision, she could see his cheeks turn pink in the moonlight. He looked _good_ in the silver light and she felt her pulse quicken further as she admired the glow of his copper hair, the way the moon illuminated his freckles.

“Ah, that was on his own initiative, I am afraid. Where would you like to go?” Jester thought for a minute.

“We could go into the fields! The stars look so nice out there.” Caleb nodded and started directing Jannik in that direction. “See, we made it out without being noticed. I told you, I am excellent at sneaking out.” Caleb chuckled.

“Well, your mother is also not here to keep an eye on you. If she were, I suspect we would not have gotten very far. I do not think I would like to be accosted by the Ruby of the Sea wanting to know where I was whisking her daughter off to in the middle of the night. I am not sure the excuse that it was your idea would be very effective.” Jester giggled.

“No, my mama likes you, Cayleb. And she would definitely believe that it was my idea.”

“That is true, she knows you better than anybody.”

“And I used to sneak out all the time, especially at night.”

“That does not surprise me. Where did you go?” The wastes were in sight now, flat and barren and shining under the moonlight.

“Wherever I wanted. Sometimes I went to the beach, just to be by myself. Sometimes I would go to a show or the night market. I had a boyfriend, for a little while, I would sneak out to go see him.”

“Oh - I did not know that. Is he…still in Nicodranas?” Jester raised an eyebrow. It sounded like he was being casual, but there was a hint of something else under his light tone.

“I don’t really know. I mean, obviously we’re not together anymore. It wasn’t that serious. Did you sneak out a lot when you were a kid?” Jannik was off the road now, padding over the hard sandstone of the wastes. Jester felt a chilling breeze and instinctively huddled closer to Caleb.

“A bit. My house was quite small, so it was very difficult to escape without my parents noticing. But I did sometimes, if I wanted to see my friends or something.”

“Or meet up with _girls_?” Jester teased, enjoying the flush in his face.

“Ja, sometimes. But I think you imagine that I was more popular with the girls as a teenager than I was.”

“Oh, I bet that isn’t true. You’re very handsome, Cayleb.” He was quiet for a moment.

“Thank you, Jester.”

“Did you ever get caught sneaking out?” Caleb thought for a moment.

“Ja, once.”

“Ooh, tell me!”

“Well, I was supposed to meet up with, ah, a girl from the neighborhood. We had been seeing each other for, I do not know, a few months, and had not yet, you know, uh…”

“Boned?”

“Ah, sure, if that is how you would like to put it. But we made plans and she told me to meet her in her family’s hayloft, so I thought maybe, that was the night. But because I was nervous, I had not paid attention and left the ladder up to the hayloft in place. So her father saw it and went out to inspect and found us up there - thankfully, ah, not in _too_ compromising a position.” Jester couldn’t help but laugh at the image. “I tried to get down from the hayloft before he could catch me, but I did not manage and he marched me back to my home and woke my parents.”

“Oh no!” Jester cried, her hands over her face. Caleb laughed sheepishly.

“Ja, they were not so pleased. He woke them up and told them he had caught me ‘deflowering his daughter’. I explained that I could not take credit for that particular achievement, and that he should go get the blacksmith’s son instead.” Jester burst out laughing. “Perhaps predictably, he did not find that very funny. Neither did my parents.”

“Oh my gods…what did they do?”

“Oh, they were not happy. I think my father found it a little funny, but he never would have shown it to me if he did. I was hardly out of my mother’s sight for a month after that.” Jester couldn’t stop giggling, the image was just too much.

“Wow, Cayleb, I had no idea you were such a troublemaker.”

“Well, those days are long gone for me." Jester looked up at the sky, the dazzling spray of stars across the horizon, muted moonlight suffusing the expanse.

“Stop Jannik! Look!” Caleb halted the moorbounder and Jester tapped him on the shoulder, pointing up to where small points of light were streaking across the sky, bright and then fizzling out. “Shooting stars!” The two stopped and watched, and Jester was suddenly struck by the immensity of the plain around them. Even though they could still see the small points of light that was the cottage behind them, she felt like she was in infinite nothingness.

“Wow…it’s so beautiful, isn’t it, Cayleb?”

“Ja, it is lovely,” he murmured, gazing up at the sky. Jester found herself tearing her gaze away from the meteor shower for just a moment, her breath catching in her throat as she stared at his profile, illuminated by the moon. _Fuck,_ he was _pretty_.

As the meteor shower dissipated, Jester found herself shivering with the cold.

“You are cold?” Caleb asked, turning his head back towards her.

“A little,” she admitted. “But it’s really nice out here, I don’t want to go back just yet.”

“Ah, would you give me your coat?” Jester frowned.

“I think I'll be colder without my coat.”

“Just for a moment.” Jester shrugged out of her coat and passed it forward to him. Caleb rubbed his hands together and folded the coat between them. He held it for half a minute and handed it back to her. Slipping it back on, Jester was surprised that it was warm, like she’d hung it in front of the fire.

“Thank you, Cayleb,” Jester exclaimed, snuggling into the toasty coat. She thought she saw a small smile on the corners of his mouth. That was…really sweet. He was definitely responding to her advances.

“You are welcome, Jester. It will not last forever, but I can do it again if you get cold. Before we go back, do you want to see how fast we can get Jannik to go?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, hold on tight.” Jester slid her arms around his narrow waist, her breath coming shallow now. She was so close to him, her chin resting on his shoulder, and she could smell the nutty, earthy fragrance of his soap, the heat of his skin soaking into hers. Caleb laced the fingers of one hand in hers and wrapped the reins around the other. _Oh._ Jester’s heart was pounding in her ears, every inch of skin where they touched sending lightning through her body. The cold forgotten, Jester pressed closer and gripped his hand tighter.

“Jannik, _lauf_.” Before she knew it, the moorbounder was galloping ahead, the wind whistling in her ears. Jester had never ridden Yarnball when he ran unless they were in danger and had never really had the chance to enjoy it. This was _amazing -_ her hair blew back from her face, and the speed tore a giddy laugh from her throat. In these flat, open plains, Jannik could run as long as he wanted. Jester squealed with joy and buried her face in Caleb’s shoulder, her heart pounding in her ears with adrenaline and instinctual fear. She felt like she was flying, the high of freedom and victory radiating through her body, coasting on the thrill of speed and the feeling of Caleb in her arms, his hand squeezing hers.

When Jannik finally slowed, she picked up her head and realized they were approaching the cottage. A small wave of disappointment coasted through Jester - she didn’t want to stop, to go back to those same four walls. _What now? Do I just go for it?_ Caleb’s reaction to her flirtations, hesitant but clearly responding positively, had her on her back foot. She was expecting to essentially have to write “I WANT TO GET LAID” on her forehead for him to get it, but that was not how this was going. Jester was pleasantly surprised by this, but it put her off her game a little. She wasn’t used to being the one getting flustered.

They came up to the gate of the paddock and Caleb stopped Jannik, releasing her hand and swinging one leg over the side to dismount. Caleb held up his hand to her and Jester took it with a smile. She didn’t need help getting off the moorbounder and she knew that he knew it - but she didn’t mind a little chivalry once in a while.

“That was really fun,” she breathed, her heart pounding in her ears at the way he looked at her, his eyes bright.

“I am glad you enjoyed yourself, Blueberry,” he murmured, tethering Jannik and removing his gear. He turned back to her, locking the paddock and they began to walk back to the house. Jester’s breath caught in her throat when she felt his hand drift to her lower back, warm and gentle. _Gods,_ she wanted him. When she opened the door and walked inside, his hand dropped from her back and she regretted its loss.

“Would you like to learn more tomorrow?” Caleb asked, hanging his coat up by the door. Jester smiled at him.

“Yeah, if you don’t mind. That would be nice. Thanks, Cayleb.”

“Of course, I am happy to teach you. You are a natural.”

“Well I hope I’m your favorite student, Professor Widogast,” Jester teased.

“Ja, you could say you are my favorite student.” Caleb pulled his boots off. “I am going to bathe and then go to bed.” Jester yawned.

“Yeah, I think I’ll join you.” She saw Caleb freeze, color rushing into his cheeks. “I mean the - I’m going to sleep. I didn’t - not the bath part.” _Unless you want me to_ , she didn’t say. He let out the breath he’d been holding and chuckled.

“Ja, I figured. Good night, Jester, if you are asleep when I come in. Would you like Frumpkin?”

“Yes please!” Jester held out her arms and he summoned the cat into them. Jester skipped upstairs with Frumpkin cradled like a baby and laid him on the bed, where he purred and circled until he found a suitable spot. She had just pulled her slip down over her head when Caleb appeared in the doorway, scaring the life out of her _,_ and immediately covering his eyes.

“Ah, Jester, I am sorry! I thought you were in the washroom!” Once Jester’s heart stopped trying to jump out of her body, she let out a relieved breath.

“Oh, it’s alright, I’m just in my pajamas.” He lowered his hands cautiously.

“Oh - o-okay. I did not know that was what you wore to bed.” Jester felt her cheeks get a little warm, but she smirked anyway.

“What, did you think I slept naked, Cayleb?” Jester looked at her reflection intently, taking the jewelry off her horns and pushing her chest out just the slightest. She did notice that that got his attention, his eyes drifting down to her cleavage when he thought she wouldn’t see.

“Nein, I did not - I was not - I am going to take a bath.” Caleb retrieved his sleep pants and dashed off across the hall. Jester hummed to herself while she finished the rest of her bedtime routine. Listening to the bath run in the next room was soothing, and she slid under the covers. Jester drew in her sketchbook to the Traveler, folding her drawing of Frumpkin between the pages, and sketched herself, on the couch, bored to tears with being stuck inside. What else? Jester felt the slightest stirrings in her chest and she started to draw a landscape, Jannik small in the distance compared to the vast expanse of plains and the stars above like dandelion seeds. Jester bit her lip and glanced to the door. The water had just shut off, so she had some privacy for a bit. She turned to a fresh page in her sketchbook and started to draw from memory, the way Caleb had looked on the moorbounder, face upturned towards the moon, silver beams illuminating his face. It took her some time to get an image she was satisfied with, not quite getting it how she remembered it. She recalled what she’d said to Caleb earlier about his drawing of Frumpkin - _it really reflects how he makes you_ feel - and tried to let her memory guide her, not just the picture but the feeling of vastness around her, her heart beating in her chest, the wonder she’d experienced watching the meteors.

When she finally had something that she felt good about, Jester yawned and closed her sketchbook, putting out the candles with a wave of Thaumaturgy and settling under the blankets. Not long after, Caleb crept back into the room, toweling off his hair. Jester, who obviously could see fine in the dark, felt that this was almost cheating. Nobody had any right to look that good after a bath. Feeling a little bolder, she let her gaze linger, eyes roving over water darkened chest hair and following rivulets of water down freckled skin. Fuck, she really could just jump him right now…. She felt the heat between her legs building and tried to push it down. Caleb put on his sleeping shirt and Jester almost opened her mouth to protest, remembering herself at the last second. _Not yet_ , she reminded herself. _Patience. Good things come to those who wait._

Jester rolled over and closed her eyes, willing the arousal in her stomach to settle. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to wait too long, or she wasn’t going to make it.

She had five days.


	4. I did not choose him, he did not choose me

In the morning, Jester was surprised to find Caleb still asleep. He must not have gone to bed right away last night, and stayed up working. She gave herself permission to look him over. He seemed younger in his sleep, the lines of worry and doubt almost gone, the muscles in his face relaxed. He shifted and stretched, exposing the pale freckled line of his neck. Jester wanted to sink her teeth into it, make pretty bruises appear along the side, feel him shudder under her-

_Whoa, okay. First thing in the morning. You should probably get dressed before you start scheming jumping your friend._

Jester climbed out of bed as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake him, and took one of her prettier dresses out of her pack, a white one with a square neckline and daisy patterned lace sleeves. She scooped up her toiletries and went to the washroom, where she ran the water in the tub. Watching it fill, Jester pulled off her nightgown and stared at the rising water, arms crossed over her chest. She really did not know where to go from here, especially not with someone who needed as much coaxing as Caleb. Jester was pretty surprised that he was responding so positively to her advances, and, apparently, flirting back with her, but she didn’t know how to take the leap from flirtatious teasing, lingering touches and unspoken intentions, to sealing the deal. She needed advice.

Jester peeked out the washroom, saw that the bedroom was still closed, and shut and locked this door with a quiet click. The running of the water should mask her voice, if necessary.

“Mama? Are you there? I need your advice.” Jester waited for a moment, and then her mother’s familiar, musical voice came into her head, like she was there whispering in her daughter’s ear. A wave of calm washed over Jester, instinctual, and she smiled.

 _My little Sapphire! It is so lovely to hear from you. Of course, anything, what can I help you with?_ Jester bit her lip and turned the water up a little louder.

“Okay so let’s say you want to, uh, get laid,” she whispered, “and you’ve been flirting and he’s flirting back but you’re kind of like at an impasse and what do you do now?!” Her head was quiet for a few moments and Jester’s heart raced, wondering if her mother was going to tell her off, or didn’t get her message, or would ask her a bunch of questions she didn’t want to answer. That wasn’t usually the Ruby’s way; especially now that Jester was an adult, she respected her privacy and didn’t pry beyond what was necessary to give advice when asked. But the possibilities swirled in Jester’s mind as she waited for Marion to respond.

_Well…I suppose that depends on the man. If he is flirting with you, but still hasn’t done anything, he might be telling you that he’s interested but is too shy to make the first move. He could also be enjoying the flirting but doesn’t want to take things further._

“So I have to do it?”

_Perhaps. I have had several men come to me over the years who simply could not make the first advance themselves, even though of course it was obvious what they were there for. I had to take initiative._

“How am I supposed to know for sure that he wants it?”

 _You don’t until you try. He might reject you. That’s alright, darling, it happens, and isn’t a judgment on you. Would…could I ask you who you’re ah, courting?_ Jester stifled a laugh at her mother’s delicate language. “Courting” wasn’t exactly the word she’d use. She blushed, not sure if Marion would think she was making a mistake or not. She wouldn’t say even if she did.

“Um…Caleb? You met him.” Marion was silent for a moment.

 _Huh. That - I have to say, was not what I was expecting. Just…be safe, my dear, won’t you?_ Jester could imagine her mother’s eyebrows knitting together, her bewildered expression. She knew Marion meant safe in more ways than one; she didn’t have to explain.

“Yeah, Mama, always. I have to go, I love you.”

_I love you too, Sapphire._

Jester sighed and turned off the tap, the water steaming and inviting. She stepped into the tub, the heat soaking into her muscles, the water removing the stink of Jannik from her. The candles in the bathroom reminded her of the spa at home, the perpetual night of Rosohna making them a staple in every room; though she could see well enough without them, the ambiance was nice. As she soaked and scrubbed, she thought over her mother’s advice. It made her nervous, the idea of just making a move, but the more she thought about it, her mother was probably right. If he accepted, she would have felt silly for wasting time if she dragged it out longer. If he refused, she would have only wasted two days if she found that out now, more if she waited. There were a lot of potential complications, Jester knew, for their friendship, group dynamics, no matter what happened, but she felt confident that if she could just go on as before, nothing had to be different and Caleb would probably follow her lead.

Satisfied with her conclusion, Jester finished her bath, dressed, dried her hair and galloped downstairs. Caleb was up by then, and dressed, at the table with coffee and his books. He looked up when she came down and smiled.

“Good morning, Jester. There is hot coffee on the stove if you would like.” She beamed.

“Thanks, Cayleb!” She settled into the couch with a fresh cup - with plenty of milk and sugar, obviously - and her new book. She must have gotten lost in her novel, because she had been reading for quite some time when she heard Caleb snap his fingers under the table and a warm, fuzzy body curled up in her lap.

“Oh hi, Frumpkin!” Jester exclaimed, scratching the cat under the chin just how he liked. She glanced up at Caleb, who had a small smile on his face, though it was turned down towards his books. It was a quiet morning in the cottage, Caleb working and Jester reading in companionable silence. Her internal clock - not nearly as precise as Caleb’s, as it mostly depended on whether she was hungry - told her it was a bit past noon when Caleb looked up towards her and asked,

“Would you like to learn together today? You can say no, if you are not interested any longer,” he added quickly. Jester gave him a generous smile.

“Yeah, of course!” His face light up and Jester felt the ache of affection bloom in her chest, and the stirrings of something else lower in her belly.

“Ja, okay, if you are ready I have the books here.” Jester sat down at the table, perpendicular to Caleb, and he opened the book from yesterday between them.

“So if you remember from yesterday, we talked about how the runes come together to build a glyph, but we did not talk about why. The runes, if you focus on them correctly, help you to access the ley lines of magic that suffuse all of existence. They are sort of like…an anchor point, something for you to grab onto. Does this make sense?”

“Yes, definitely,” Jester said, excitement growing in her stomach. She’d never had a chance to learn any of this and it blew her mind to think of the expansive power she was calling on when she cast her spells. Silently, she thanked the Traveler for giving her access to something so incredible.

“Excellent. When you begin to cast a spell, the rune in the center of the glyph helps you pull down the correct kind of magic, and then you shape it according to what you are trying to do. Can I show you?” Jester nodded eagerly. Caleb put out his hands silently and Jester placed hers in his upturned palms, hardly able to keep still. His skin was warm and soft under hers, but an instant later, she felt a jolt of energy in the negative space between, like lightning, making her jump.

“What was that?”

“That is transmutation energy.” He pulled his hands back and picked up a piece of paper. “Now that I am holding it - that does take some practice, so you maybe will not be able to do it right away and that is alright - I can shape it and produce the desired spell. I will do it slowly so you can see.” Jester watched, entranced, as his fingers danced in the air, tracing shapes she didn’t recognize. The paper turned to a sheet of slate in his hand.

“Will you teach me to do that?” she blurted. He turned the slate back into paper.

“Let’s focus on learning to draw down the correct energy, ja? I am sure I can teach it to you, but it may require more time. Let’s start with conjuration, it is a simple rune, easy to focus on.” Caleb took Jester’s hands again and closed his eyes. She squeezed hers shut, trying to think of the Sadanna rune she’d learned yesterday. She knew the shape, but wasn’t sure how to jump from that to pulling magic out of the air. Caleb must have felt her fidgeting, because he stroked the back of her hands with his thumbs and murmured,

“Shh, patience, Blueberry, you will get it. Focus on the shape. Let it become the only thing in your mind.” It was hard to focus on anything except the fluttering of her heart right now, but Jester wanted to learn and she forced everything else out of her consciousness. She traced the rune over and over again on the blank slate of her mind, holding it behind her eyes until she felt, suddenly - a sensation - like she’d just dipped her hand into a swiftly running stream, pulling a drop of water back on the tip of her finger. A pulse of heat radiated between their hands, just for a second, but she felt it. Jester’s eyes snapped open with a gasp and Caleb was staring at her with a big smile on his face, his eyes alight.

“I did it! I did it!” she cried, throwing her hands up in the air.

“You did! That was amazing!”

Energized, Jester threw herself into the rest of the lesson, summoning the streams of energy from the runes as Caleb taught her. Some were harder than others, and by the time they had been working for two hours, maybe more, she was spent and they hadn’t even finished all the basic schools of magic.

“I’m really tired,” she sighed, slumping back in her chair. “Do you think we could do more tomorrow?”

“Ja, of course. I know it is exhausting. But you did so well, Jester, really. I suspect that because you already have experience with using magic, there is a part of it that comes more…naturally to you. You are already tapped into these ley lines, the mechanism by which you access them is just a bit different.” Jester shrugged.

“Maybe. It felt familiar, summoning the magic, like I do when I cast my spells. Maybe the Traveler just gave me a shortcut.” She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly and he chuckled.

“For those of us not so lucky, we must rely on books. That is why wizards are all wrinkled old men, ja?” Jester rolled her eyes.

“I told you, I didn’t mean _you!”_ Caleb laughed and closed the book.

“More tomorrow, then.”

~~~

Evening fell over them soon enough and Jester sighed, staring out the window. Her mother’s advice from earlier was still echoing in her head. _You can do it. Worst thing that can happen is you get rejected._ The thing was, that was still pretty bad. Jester steeled herself for the possibility but it would still sting if it happened. She also hadn’t felt like there was a good opportunity yet. During her magic lesson she’d almost entirely forgotten her intentions with Caleb, aside from moments when his skin slid against hers and she remembered the hands she was holding, or when his eyes lit up at another successful summoning. Even then, she found herself with a hammering pulse, her breath hitching, but not actively scheming. Now, she was scheming.

Jester lay on the couch after dinner - which she had made, clumsily, but Caleb still complimented her on it - and tried to focus on her book. Caleb sat at the other end of the couch, red hair falling around his face, with a novel of his own, one she had swapped with him after the last time they went book shopping. Jester was finally getting to the juicy stuff in her book, after way, way too many chapters, and an idea started to coalesce; her heart beat harder against her ribs, her stomach lit up with arousal and excitement.

“Hey, Cayleb?” she piped up, her tone light and innocent. He looked over to where she was sitting, with her back against the arm of the couch and her knees propped up to make a stand for her book.

“Ja?”

“This book is in Zemnian, right?” Caleb frowned in confusion.

“Is it? I do not think I read that one before I gave it to you. You have been reading it all day though, ja?” Jester bit her bottom lip. _In for a copper, in for a gold, girl._

“Well, one of the characters is Zemnian, and she usually speaks Common but now she’s saying some stuff in Zemnian and I’m not sure what it means.”

“Ah, okay, would you like me to look for you?” Jester smiled mischievously.

“If you don’t mind.” She sat up on her knees, facing him, and pressed close so she could hand the book to him and point out the dialogue. One hand on his shoulder and her chin resting on the back of it, she laid the book over his and showed him where the Zemnian began. She felt a thrill of satisfaction go through her when he immediately blushed bright red.

“Like right here, see? Where she says, _ich muss zufrieden sein, bitte,_ what does that mean?” For a split second, Jester felt silly for trying the foreign language, sure that it sounded ridiculous on her clumsy, unaccented tongue, but she felt Caleb tense under her.

“W-well, um, it means…uh, she is saying that, she needs…um, to be…satisfied.” He mumbled the last word, so quietly she could barely hear it, but Jester hummed like the translation greatly improved her comprehension of the scene.

“Okay, so what about this one? _Es ist so gut, wenn du mich so berührst_?” She could feel his breath coming a little more uneven now, and she was sure her own was too, with a mixture of nerves, anticipation and arousal.

“I - I am not sure I should say.”

“Oh, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Cayleb,” she cajoled. “We both read this stuff.” She couldn’t quite see his expression but she knew that Caleb had no compunctions about fleeing uncomfortable situations, and he was making no move to get up, in fact shifting a little so his left hand was brushing against her knee.

“It, ah, i-it says ‘it is very good, when you touch me like that.’” He was still mumbling, but she got a full translation this time, not just a paraphrase, so that seemed like a good sign. Jester grinned wickedly, though she knew he couldn’t see it with her head on his shoulder.

“Okay, this is the last one, I _promise_.” Jester pointed further down on the opposite page. “What does this mean? _Du fühlst so gross in mir?_ It sounds like an insult.”

“Ah, nein, no, it means, um, well….” Caleb swallowed thickly, blushing fiercely. “It means, ‘you feel so big inside me.’”

“Does it?” Jester murmured, pressing just imperceptibly closer, her lips just a hair’s breadth from his ear. “I bet you’ve heard that a lot.” Caleb turned to look at her and Jester’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of his bright blue eyes, the intensity in his gaze.

“I have heard it more than a few times.”

Jester let her mouth work before her brain could catch up to her and she lost her courage.

“Maybe you should teach me how to say it, then, _Professor.”_

Before she could blink, Caleb’s hand was in her hair, pulling her forward the extra few inches and his mouth was on hers, hot and soft and so, so good. He tasted like herbs and mint and sweet, sweet victory. Jester whined against his mouth and fisted her hands in his shirt, wanting more, wanting every inch of him on her; she ran her tongue over his bottom lip, a little shy but a lot desperate, and he opened for her easily. She could hardly breathe, air coming shallow and unsteady already, and one of his hands was in her hair, the other on her back, pressing her closer. Her tongue slid into his mouth and she was rewarded with a small groan that sent a shiver down her whole body.

Caleb guided her onto his lap, breaking the kiss for only a moment before she dove back in, taking his face in her hands. His tongue pressed gently against her lower lip, asking permission, and Jester gave it readily, letting him explore her mouth, claim it. Jester tangled her fingers in soft red waves and guided Caleb’s mouth away from hers, towards her jaw, and he took the hint with enthusiasm, laying breathless, open-mouthed kisses over the column of her throat, running his tongue over ticklish skin, making Jester gasp.

Jester hardly noticed that she was rolling her hips against his, seeking friction where she so badly needed it, until she bent to worry a small mark on his throat and felt him twitch between her legs. Caleb moaned softly as she laved her tongue over the bruise, one hand still threaded in her hair. When she finally pulled back to look at Caleb, gods, if she thought he looked good before, this image - hair mussed, blue eyes blown black with lust, flushed cheeks, his lips red and wet - was on the verge of divine. Jester wanted to eat him alive.

She grinned and bent to kiss him again, bracing herself on the couch and grinding her hips with more intention. Caleb kissed her back desperately, his small sighs of pleasure adding to the arousal swelling in her belly, but his hands couldn’t seem to make up their mind about where he could touch her. His fingers stuttered over her back, lifting up if they were on her for more than a few seconds, and Jester got impatient, reaching back to take his hands in hers and planting them on her hips.

“You can touch me, Cayleb. I’m not going to disappear.” Caleb threaded a hand back into her hair and kissed her again, his other hand wandering over her full thighs, stroking her back, ghosting shyly over the curve of her ass.

“Maybe we should take this upstairs, ja?” Caleb breathed as they parted. Jester nodded eagerly, hopping off Caleb’s lap and lacing her fingers in his, pulling him to his feet. She practically ran up the stairs, Caleb following with no less urgency. When they made it through the door, Jester heard it click shut and felt Caleb’s arms slide around her waist from behind her. She sighed and leaned into the embrace, whimpering softly when he bent to run his tongue over the shell of her ear.

“Do you like that?” he murmured, his hands roaming over her hips and thighs.

“Yes, please…” She could feel his smile in the movement of his lips on her skin. For the first time, Jester was also keenly aware of his hard length pressing against her, making another wave of arousal wash over her. Caleb nipped her ear and she turned around; he pressed another kiss to her lips and gently guided her backward, until she was lying on the bed with him over her. Jester thought that if it weren’t for the growing need between her legs, she could’ve laid like this and made out with him all night. As it was, she had something she needed, _badly_.

As if reading her mind, Caleb pulled back and brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, an affectionate smile on his face. He held himself up on one elbow, the other hand playing with her hair. Jester’s breath caught in her throat drinking in the way he was looking at her, like she was a treasure.

“What do you want tonight, _Schatz_?” Caleb murmured, still carding his fingers through her hair. “We do not have to do anything more than this. Whatever you want.”

“I want to have sex,” Jester replied bluntly, which seemed to take a moment to process. He blinked at her rapidly, as if his brain needed to reset itself, but resumed playing with her hair with a shy smile on his face.

“Well, alright then. I cannot say no to such an appealing proposition.”

“You can,” she reminded him.

“I know, but I do not want to. Ah, Jester, this is not your…um, you have -“

“I’m not a virgin. And I take something to prevent pregnancy, if that was going to be your next question.” He closed his mouth.

“Ja, okay. You have thought about this.”

“Oh, you don’t know how much I’ve thought about it, Mister Widogast,” Jester teased, stretching out underneath him with a smirk. Caleb grinned and leaned down to take her mouth again, his lips moving against hers slowly, sensually, heat building in her core.

“You are not the only one,” he murmured, nipping her bottom lip. Jester giggled, excitement bubbling up in her chest as Caleb reached down and hooked her thigh over his hip, pressing closer to her.

“You are wearing far too many clothes for my liking, Miss Lavorre.” Jester sighed happily, feeling his fingers start to drift under her skirt, gliding over her soft, smooth thighs. He kept his touch light, teasing, glancing over the curve of her hips and over her stomach. Jester squirmed, impatient, and reached behind her to undo the buttons on the back of her dress. Caleb reached up and took her hand away from the buttons, kissing her palm.

“May I?” He shifted so she could sit up and settled behind her. His long fingers stroked her back, dancing over the exposed skin on her shoulders. Jester felt the fabric of her dress gradually loosen as Caleb undid her buttons, pressing kisses to the back of her neck, over her spine as more of the expanse of her back was revealed to the air.

“You are gorgeous, Jester,” he murmured, sliding her dress off her shoulders. She hummed in satisfaction and wiggled out of it, letting the white garment pool on the floor. She felt a little shy now, in just her bra and underwear, but she turned anyway, watching as Caleb’s eyes raked over her. Jester climbed back on the bed and kissed him, smiling giddily, bringing her hands around to the hem of his shirt.

“Now you’re the one wearing too many clothes,” she said, pushing it up his chest, reveling in the feeling of warm skin and coarse hair under her fingertips. Caleb grinned against her lips and pulled his shirt off over his head, dropping it to the floor before gathering Jester in his arms and pulling her close. She moaned into his mouth at the sensation of so much hot skin on hers, the eroticism of his hands roaming her back, the auburn hair on his chest tickling the sensitive skin on her breasts.

Jester moved to straddle him as they kissed, feeling the bulge in his trousers pressing more insistently against her now that she was just in her underwear. Arousal flooded through her as she felt Caleb’s fingers brush over the swell of her breast, a small whine escaping her in her want for more; encouraged by her noises, he cupped her breasts in his hands, kissing breathlessly over her freckled skin. She was still wearing her bra, but the peaks of her nipples were apparent through the linen and she moaned when Caleb thumbed over them, his mouth on her neck, sucking just hard enough to feel good.

“Fuck, Cayleb, stop teasing me!” Jester whimpered, rolling her hips against his, which elicited a sharp breath and the scrape of teeth against her skin. She couldn’t help but notice he looked a little smug when he pulled away, and she knew her begging was probably boosting his confidence, but she was so aroused she couldn’t bother caring.

“Do you want this off, _Liebchen_?” Caleb murmured, running his fingers under the band of her bra. Too eager to wait, Jester reached behind her and unhooked it herself, shrugging out of the garment and tossing it behind her. Caleb moaned against her throat, pleased, and ran his hands over the curve of her bare breasts, making Jester shudder. She leaned back until she was laying down and he shifted down until he could nuzzle between her breasts. Jester could hardly hold still now, the heat and want between her legs distracting, but if she thought he was driving her crazy before, she couldn’t have imagined how good it would feel when he finally ran his tongue over her breast, just glancing over her nipple, but the touch radiated through her like lightning.

In all her past sexual experiences, Jester had come to expect sex to be a quick romp, propped in a closet somewhere or up in a rented room in a tavern, sometimes not even getting all their clothes off. It wasn’t that she didn’t have fun - she usually did, more or less - but she was accustomed to the whole thing being a rather cursory experience. Caleb seemed to be enjoying taking his time, in no real rush to get her out of her clothes, savoring drawing her pleasure to the surface on every inch of her body. Jester didn’t think she’d ever been so turned on in her life and they’d basically just been making out like teenagers. She had the distinct feeling that sex with Caleb might ruin her for future sloppy, utilitarian one night stands.

All of her thinking was summarily put on hold when she felt his warm mouth close around her nipple, sucking and holding the bud between his teeth. Jester gasped and twisted her hands in the sheets, the focused bolt of pleasure sending another gush of warmth between her legs. Caleb smiled, her breast still in his mouth, and rolled the other nipple between those stupidly talented fingers. Jester thought, deliriously, about whether she’d ever be able to watch him cast a spell again without getting a little turned on.

She threaded one hand into his hair, stroking over his scalp, and he made a pleased hum, looking up at her through thick lashes. Gods, his eyes were gorgeous… When Caleb moved to her other breast, teasing her nipple with his tongue as he sucked her, Jester moaned and pulled his hair before she realized what she was doing. She hadn’t meant to do it, but Caleb _groaned_ and she could feel his breath coming more unsteady against her skin.

“Do you like that?” She breathed, noting the deeper flush in his cheeks. He nodded, lifting her other hand from the bed and placing it on his head. Jester grinned and let him continue his ministrations over her breasts, rewarding him for what she especially liked by tugging at his hair. If she was capable of cumming untouched, she thought she might have at the sounds he was making, hungry and earnest and so fucking hot.

After what felt like an eternity and also only a minute, Caleb lifted his head from her chest and kissed her fiercely; Jester’s heart stopped when he pulled back and she saw the sheer want in his eyes, his desire evident where their hips met. She moaned when he started to kiss down her collarbone and chest again, nipping at the sensitive skin on her stomach until he was settled between her thighs. Fingers trailing over her stomach, Caleb pressed a soft kiss to the waist of her underwear and looked up at her, his eyes burning.

“May I?”

“Are you _asking_ if you can go down on me?” Caleb furrowed his brow.

“Ja?” Jester couldn’t help the giggle from escaping her throat and let her head fall back on the mattress.

“You’re unbelievable. Yes, _please, Cayleb,_ gods-“ She didn’t have to finish her sentence before he spread her thighs further, pushed the fabric aside, and ran his tongue over the length of her cunt. Jester keened, arching up off the bed and canting her hips up in a silent ask. Caleb buried his nose into the nest of her soft curls and breathed in her scent, eyes fluttering shut as his tongue dipped into her wet heat. It looked even better than she’d imagined.

“ _Fuck,_ that feels amazing,” she moaned, one hand in his hair. The other cast around for something to hold onto, something to ground her, and Caleb reached up and laced his fingers in hers, still exploring her with his tongue. With his other hand, he spread her wider, giving himself more access to every ridge and valley of her.

“You are so godsdamned beautiful,” she heard him whisper before he closed his eyes again and took her clit in his mouth, moaning around her when she cried out in delight. Jester squeezed his hand, her hips rocking against him, pleasure coursing through her in wave after wave. He backed off her clit quickly, and Jester found herself desperate to get his mouth back on it until she felt the smooth muscle of his tongue pressing into her entrance.

“Ohhhh, gods, more of _that_ …” Caleb felt even closer, his mouth and nose buried in her cunt. Jester moaned happily when he returned to her clit and hooked one leg over his shoulder, shuddering as his beard rubbed against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. The fingers he was using to spread her traced over the lines of her labia and started circling her entrance. Jester felt herself clench, her edges fluttering; she was practically sobbing with want, grinding her hips against his hand and tongue. Caleb’s two long fingers slid into her easily, and she moaned, suddenly full but still needing more.

“Cayleb, please, please, I want to cum, that feels so good…I don’t think I’m going to last.” She propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at him, biting her lip to stifle her whining. Caleb lifted his head and gods, she could’ve cum right then, looking at his shiny lips and his beard matted down with her slick. He held himself up on one elbow, slowing his rhythm inside her but not pulling out.

“You can have more than one, _Schatz_ , cum for me.” Jester sobbed with need, her thighs trembling, her breath stopped in her throat under the intensity of his gaze. Caleb watched her intently as she came undone, pushing a third finger inside her and circling his thumb on her clit. Jester’s face was flushed, her gasping moans reaching a new pitch, she was teetering on the edge, and then he crooked his fingers just right inside her and pressed mercilessly on her sweet spot and she exploded with a cry, collapsing onto the bed as the pleasure washed over her. Caleb kept fingering her, though he laid off her clit and gradually slowed, and she came down from her orgasm, still panting, face hot.

“Holy _shit_ , Cayleb,” Jester sighed, shuddering as he pulled his fingers out of her slowly. His eyes were burning into her, and he didn’t break her gaze when he put his fingers in his mouth and cleaned her slick off them. Caleb leaned over her again, taking her mouth in a sweet, almost chaste kiss, if it weren’t for the fact that she could taste herself on his tongue. As she hooked her leg around his waist and pulled his hips closer to hers, she could feel him straining in his trousers and could really only be impressed that he was so patient when his need was so obvious. Caleb brushed her hair out of her face again and smiled down at her, his fingertips trailing over her side in a soothing pattern.

“Do you want to keep going? We can stop here, if you are done.” Jester stared at him.

“Do you want to stop?”

“No! Not at all…”

“Then please get these off so you can fuck me already.” Jester relished in the moan that left him as she tugged on the waistband of his pants. Gods, she couldn’t wait to find out what was under there. Caleb stood to remove his trousers and Jester rolled onto her stomach, her tail swishing behind her. She batted his hands away from his laces playfully and started to undo them herself.

“I like to unwrap my own presents,” Jester teased, winking up at him. She cupped the outline of his cock through his trousers and hummed in satisfaction, looking up at him as she pressed a soft, open mouthed kiss to his hard length. His hips jerked and he sucked in a breath, clearly very worked up, and Jester grinned wickedly. She stopped teasing and unlaced his pants, pulling his small clothes off with them. Caleb sighed with relief and Jester’s mouth went dry when she saw it; it was an average length, as far as her limited experience told her, but nice and thick, and flushed pink. She could see a bit of precum that had collected at the tip and had the urge to reach out with her tongue and lick it off. Jester leaned forward and ran her tongue over the length, making Caleb groan and grip the bedpost. It was velvet soft, and fuck, the scent of his arousal was driving her crazy, she wanted to suck him down and spread her legs for him at the same time.

“You have a lovely mouth, _Liebchen_ , and I am afraid that if you do that, I will not be able to fulfill your request,” Caleb warned, carding his fingers through her hair. “Unlike you, I cannot easily cum more than once and I want to give you everything you asked for.” Jester faked a pout, and pressed a kiss to his tip.

“Next time,” she murmured, glancing up at him with a touch of nerves fluttering in her stomach. Maybe it was presumptuous to assume there’d be a next time... He looked surprised but he smiled at her, running his fingers over her head.

“Ja, next time, if you like. Do you have a favorite, ah, position?” Jester thought for a moment - she had a few, but she definitely wanted to be face to face this time.

“Can you sit on the end of the bed?” Jester asked, sitting up and suddenly feeling a little shy.

“Ja, of course.” Caleb sat on the edge with his feet on the floor and held out his arms for her. She settled into his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, humming happily as he nuzzled into her neck.

“You are amazing,” Caleb whispered in her ear, running his hands over her shoulders, her breasts. Jester flushed and turned away a little from the praise, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. She bent to kiss Caleb, his mouth warm and opening effortlessly for her, and rolled her hips, squeaking a little when his cock rubbed against her still sensitive clit. Reaching between her legs as they kissed, Jester used her lubrication to slick his cock, arousal flaring inside her again at the way he canted his hips up and moaned at the contact.

Her legs spread around his hips, Jester guided Caleb to her entrance with one hand and braced herself on his shoulders with the other. He held her close, his arms wrapped around her back, and slowly pushed his hips up into her as she sank down; Jester keened, clutching at his shoulder and suddenly he was inside her. She was so _full_ , finally, and it took her a moment to adjust to the stretch - gods, he really was thick - but her body knew what it needed and she began to slide up and down, hardly able to contain the high-pitched sobs of pleasure escaping her throat. Jester buried her face in Caleb’s shoulder, trying to muffle her noise a little; he was moaning desperately as she rode him and the sounds were going straight to her second orgasm, building in her stomach, but he managed to pull back a little and look her in the eye.

“Please do not hide, Jester,” he breathed, kissing her forehead. “Let me hear all your beautiful sounds?” Jester felt a little less shy knowing he liked them and turned her head so her cheek was resting on his shoulder. Caleb rocked his hips up into her and she moaned with delight, as one of his hands came around to palm at her breast. They found a rhythm soon enough and Jester couldn’t possibly be self-conscious any longer, not when she couldn’t string a thought together, with his hips snapping up into her, his hand teasing her breast. She could feel her climax approaching and leaned back to drink in Caleb’s expression - totally blissed out, hair and beard in disarray, lips red and dewy from her kisses - as she slipped her hand between them and began to rub her clit again, the clenching of her cunt around him making him clutch her and swear. Caleb was close too, Jester could feel it in the shallow stutter of his hips, and as she moved her hand faster and faster over her slick, swollen clit, she tangled her other in his hair and pulled gently, just enough, like he liked before, and that sent him over the edge. Jester felt Caleb grasp her closer as he came with a broken cry, and the sensation of his release, warm and wet deep inside her, was erotic enough that it was only a moment before she followed, grinding down on her fingers and gushing over him, gasping and trembling in his lap.

All was still and quiet for a moment as the two caught their breath, clinging to each other, loathe to part just yet. Caleb rubbed Jester’s back, graceful hands stroking over warm, freckled skin. She nuzzled into his neck, humming contentedly, until she felt him slip out of her and got off his lap to avoid making more of a mess. Jester moved to the head of the bed and gestured for Caleb to join her, which he did after prestidigitating them both clean. She was right - she couldn’t watch him cast a spell without thinking about those long fingers inside her. She was grateful to be less sticky, but the thought that she carried a little bit of him inside her made her shiver with delight. Caleb slid under the blankets with her, propping himself up on his side as he traced patterns on her torso.

“Did you enjoy yourself, _Schatz_?” Caleb murmured, letting his head drop to the pillow.

“It was even better than I thought it’d be,” she admitted, giggling. He laughed in surprise.

“I am glad to hear that. I…I had a very good time. Do you need anything? Water?” Jester thought for a second.

“I mean, if you’re getting up….” Caleb rolled over and retrieved his pants from the ground, putting them on before slipping out the bedroom door. Jester sighed and stretched with a contented smile, sleepy and very well fucked. That was a _lot_ better than she’d imagined it, and she really, really wanted a next time. There was a small part of her that was worried that he would regret it, or she would, that they’d wake up tomorrow and not be able to look one another in the eye - but for now, she felt happy, she felt taken care of, and she had no second thoughts. It was only a moment before Caleb returned with a glass of water for her, his eyes lighting up the second they landed on her. She took it and thanked him, sitting down at the vanity for her nightly routine. It took a bit longer than usual, she would admit only to herself, because she couldn’t stop looking at him in the mirror. Caleb was making a valiant effort to stay awake, but clearly fighting sleep. Jester put out the candles with a flick of her hand and slid back into bed, rolling onto her side when she felt his arm reach for her. He pulled her close, his chest warm against her back, and Jester nestled into his embrace.

“This is alright?” Caleb asked softly.

“Yeah, it’s very alright,” Jester sighed with a smile. He pressed a quick kiss between her shoulder blades.

“Good night, Jester.”

“G’night, Cayleb.” Darkness overtook her shortly after.


	5. we have no chance of recovery

Caleb came to consciousness slowly, awareness bleeding into him like the tide gradually creeping up on the shore. His first, bleary thought was recognition of another body, draped over his chest, something hard digging into the skin of his clavicle - it took him a moment to remember that it was Jester. His second, still cloudy thought was tinged with alarm, the realization that Jester was here and that he was naked, and that he should not be naked if Jester was here. Caleb’s brain finally kicked into gear and everything clicked into place, the memory of last night, falling asleep cuddling her with his arm around her waist. Holy _shit._

Awake, not lust-drunk Caleb searched his impeccable memory for anything, anything at all about Jester’s behavior last night that could have been off. He was terrified at the thought that he took advantage of her in some way, that she wasn’t in her right mind. What else was there to explain her having sex with _him_? Yet, he felt pretty confident that she was in full control of her faculties. _She’s still going to wake up and realize what happened._ If Jester regretted it, wanted to forget the whole thing and never speak about it again, he could do that. Everything could go back to normal, if that was what she wanted. _What do you want?_

He didn’t know how to answer that question, so he settled for staring at the sleeping tiefling in his arms. Gods, she was so beautiful. One of her horns was definitely digging into his chest - those things were _weapons_ \- but he didn’t dare move. If Jester woke up and was horrified and ashamed, he wouldn’t get to hold her like this again. He felt a little guilty for being selfish, but pushed it down. Caleb’s eyes drank in her curves, the graceful arc of her back, the round swell of her ass and the contours of her hips…. Lightly, not wanting to wake her, he let his fingers trace constellations of freckles that dusted over her back, the softness and warmth of her skin so enticing, drawing him in, making him want more - Caleb stopped. That was dangerous, wanting more. He didn’t know yet how she’d react when she woke. Last night Jester had said something about a _next time,_ but he knew as well as anyone that in the safety of the bedroom, people whispered all kinds of things they didn’t mean to each other. Even if she didn’t recoil in disgust, she might simply say, she had fun but it was best not to let it happen again. No, it was dangerous to want more, and he shouldn’t let himself hope there would be a next time.

All his stern self-talk went out the window the second Jester yawned and blinked her beautiful blue eyes open, a smile spreading over her face. She was smiling, not jumping out of bed, so that was a good sign. She brought one hand up and started running her fingers through his chest hair.

“Hi,” she breathed. Caleb couldn’t help but smile back at her.

“Good morning, Jester.” Just as he’d said every morning for the past three days. _Really? That’s all you could think to say?_

“ _Very_ good morning,” she giggled, raising her eyebrows. Biting her bottom lip, Jester was quiet for a second, then leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his, chaste and almost shy, which felt strange considering…everything. He responded immediately, sighing and pulling her closer with the arm that was slung around her hips. Gods, who was he kidding? He’d tasted her and now he’d never get enough. Her mouth was addictive, sweet like vanilla sugar and just as intoxicating. Jester was so warm against him, the sensation of her skin on his drawing arousal through his veins like warmed honey.

Caleb regretted the loss of her mouth as soon as she broke away, but being able to look into her gorgeous eyes more than compensated.

“I had a really good time last night,” Jester whispered, resting her chin on her folded arms, her tail whipping back and forth behind her lazily.

“Ja, me too,” Caleb replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “It was incredible.”

“….Wanna do it again?” _Caleb Widogast, you are so fucked._

“Ja, I really, really do,” Caleb sighed, pushing down the internal critic and bringing her in for another kiss. Jester grinned against his mouth, her tongue darting out to run over his lips. He met it with his own, sliding past her open lips to explore her, and he was rewarded with a small, sweet moan. Already, the slow uncurling of desire inside him was making itself evident, and with no clothes between them there was no hiding it.

“You’re a good kisser, Cayleb,” Jester murmured, drawing a hand down his chest, then guiding them both over onto their sides. “I could do this all day….”

“We can,” he mumbled against her mouth. “If you want.” Jester giggled and hooked her leg around his waist.

“I had something else in mind. And from the looks of it you do too.” She glanced pointedly down to where his cock was pressing against her stomach, half hard and interested now. Caleb blushed but smiled and pulled her in for another kiss. It was the type of lazy morning making out that he couldn’t remember the last time he had, slow kisses and roaming hands that heated gradually. Jester made the most beautiful noises, the way someone did when they weren’t taught to be ashamed of their pleasure, and gods, Caleb loved it. Whenever he ran his tongue over her freckled throat or brushed a hand over her breast, where her nipples were becoming stiff and sensitive, he was rewarded with little gasps and sighs, hums of want and happy moans that told him he was making her feel good. Caleb wanted to find out everything that made her make those sounds, wanted to memorize every touch and lick and kiss that drew out her pleasure. Jester’s hands were all over him, holding his face while she kissed him, in his hair, pulling a little just like she’d learned he liked, stroking his back and shoulders.

Caleb bent to suck a love bite into her neck, just hard enough to bring an edge to the pleasure, and the groan she made was just delicious, stoking the heat in his lower belly.

“Love all these pretty noises you make for me, _Schatz_ ,” he murmured, pressing down on the spot with his tongue. “You are so charming…” Jester whimpered, her hands tightening in his hair. She rolled her hips against his, sending a bolt of pleasure through him that made him inhale sharply. Jester seemed to enjoy his verbal appreciation, if the responses of her body were anything to go by.

“Fuck, it’s stupid how hot you are,” she mumbled, her eyes squeezing shut as he brought his hands up to palm her full breasts. Caleb’s heart flipped in surprise at the compliment but he resisted the urge to argue with her. Instead, he mouthed at her throat, rolling the peaks of her indigo nipples between his fingers.

“You like to be praised,” Caleb hummed, not asking, simply stating. Jester whined in response, pulling him closer and canting her hips against him. “It is a good thing then that I cannot help but compliment you.” Jester’s tail was swishing over the sheets behind her with excitement, and just thinking about it was driving him wild with ideas.

“I want you to make me cum again,” Jester moaned, her hands clutching desperately at his shoulders. “Like you did last night.” He couldn’t say his ego wasn’t boosted by that and he smirked a little before he could help himself.

“What’s the rush?” Caleb teased, letting one finger drift down her stomach; the muscles of her abdomen twitched at the touch on hypersensitive skin. He grazed over the first of the soft curls nested between her thighs, just lightly, making her squeak. “I cannot say no to you, _Liebling._ If you would like to be quick, believe me, I am more than happy to get you off. But…I am in no hurry, if you are not.” Jester groaned.

“Fuck, no, please don’t stop, Cayleb,” she whimpered, spreading her thighs in an irresistible invitation. “I want you, please…” Fuck, if that wasn’t an image he was glad he’d be able to keep forever.

“You want me to be quick, or no?” Jester bit her bottom lip, but shook her head. Caleb grinned.

“Good. Let me see how wet you are.” Jester moaned and hitched her thigh higher on his hip, creating space for him. Caleb stroked her thigh, maddeningly slow, bringing his hand up over her hip and then down to the curve of her gorgeous ass. Reaching between her legs with two fingers, he could feel that the crease of her thigh was sticky, probably from last night, and that was so fucking hot his cock throbbed between them. Ghosting gently over her labia, his fingertips dipped into the wet heat beneath and ran along her length. Jester let out a yelp when he brushed against her clit and immediately ground down onto the feeling. Caleb removed his hand, eliciting a perturbed sound from Jester, and brought it around to his lips, watching her eyes follow his tongue as he cleaned her slick from his fingers. She was delicious as she was last night, bright and sweet, but he was surprised by a new, salty, slightly bitter taste that Caleb realized was his own spend. Tasting himself on her was erotic enough to make him dizzy but he tried to keep it together. It wouldn’t do to finish too fast and leave her wanting.

“I’m so wet,” Jester breathed, watching him lick her off his fingers, and guided his hand to her own mouth, where she wrapped her lips around two of his fingers and sucked lustily. Caleb groaned, watching her, his mind drifting to her promise from last night, _next time_ , but he didn’t want that right now, he wanted to please her.

“You are,” Caleb agreed, trying to keep his voice even. “It makes me think I might be able to make you cum a few times.” Jester moaned around his fingers, her eyes fluttering shut, and he pulled them out gently before he completely lost his cool. “Would you like that?”

“Have you ever had a woman turn you down when you were offering multiple orgasms?” Jester demanded, one eyebrow raised. Caleb had to chuckle.

“No,” he admitted. Caleb kissed her, one hand on her cheek, the other on her hip. He moved to her ear, nipping the lobe. “But I would like to hear you say it.”

“Yes, I would really like that,” she sighed, grinding her hips on him.

“Mmm, good,” Caleb murmured. He slid his hand between them and parted her labia, drawing his fingers through the warm wet. Jester breathed in sharply, her body jerking a little from the stimulation.

“Please finger me!”

“You are quite a bossy lady, you know,” he teased, punctuating the statement with a tap to her clit. She whimpered and clutched at him again.

“Please….” Caleb let one slick fingertip circle her entrance, massaging the sensitive rim of her opening before slipping his finger inside. It passed with almost no friction or resistance, so he added another, to which Jester moaned happily and spread her legs wider.

“That’s it, _Schatz_. Let me hear you. I love all those little moans you make just for me.”

Caleb was aching with arousal now, his cock flushed and leaking between them, but he ignored it. Jester’s cunt was heaven, velvet soft and hot and smooth. He tried not to get distracted thinking about how good it felt contracting around him last night when she came. Keeping his hand seated between her thighs, Caleb shifted down so he could take one of Jester’s nipples into his mouth, sucking and flicking his tongue over it until she was yelping, high pitched and so fucking sexy, while he fingered her.

“I’m gonna cum,” Jester wailed, clenching her thighs around his wrist. Caleb pressed on the hard little cluster of nerves just behind the ridge of her pelvis and she clamped down on him with a cry, her whole body trembling and a small gush of warmth leaking out around the knuckles of the fingers that were buried deep in her cunt.

“That’s a good girl,” he moaned, taking in her flushed cheeks, her lust-darkened eyes and disheveled hair. Jester’s face when she came was somehow both absolutely adorable and completely divine. He laid off her sweet spot but kept plunging his fingers in and out of her, starting to lighten up until he realized she wasn’t squirming away out of overstimulation.

“Think you can do it again?” Caleb murmured in her ear, rolling a nipple between his free fingers. Jester nodded desperately, panting, clutching his shoulders. Caleb was so fucking turned on he could’ve cum just from the friction of their bodies rubbing together, but he tamped down his own desire and focused on Jester, bringing his thumb up to press down on her clit.

“Talk to me,” she managed, “please!” He threaded his fingers in her hair and pulled her close so he could whisper in her ear,

“Fuck, Jester, you sound gorgeous when you cum…I’m so desperate for you, my sweet, beautiful, Jester, I wish I could always take care of you when you need to be satisfied…. Last night when I was going down on you, I thought I could have stayed there all night, all yours, _Liebchen,_ I want you to know how fucking sexy you are, how crazy I am about you -“ Caleb’s brain caught up to him and slapped him in the face. “- um, a-about pleasing you, making you feel good…I want you to cum for me again, baby, I want to feel you cum around my fingers, please do not make me wait-“

Jester took him by surprise this time, her hips bucking up with a gasp of his name as she came again, whimpering and shaking against him.

“Oh, fuck, Cayleb,” Jester moaned, wiggling away a little as he pulled his fingers out, definitely overstimulated now. She nuzzled into his neck, catching her breath.

“Sorry it’s um, so wet,” she laughed sheepishly. “I cum a lot.”

“Dirty girl,” Caleb purred, nibbling at her neck. “No need to apologize. I like it. Do you think you have another one in there for me?”

“Gods, I hope so. But I need a break first, just a little.” He hummed in agreement, hoping a break might help him to cool down a little too. All the times he’d imagined going to bed with Jester - and this lust-addled state was probably the only time he would admit to himself he _had_ imagined it - couldn’t have prepared him for how fucking hot and addictive the experience would be.

“If I asked to go down on you, would you let me?” Jester asked with a smirk. Caleb’s brain stopped for a second, imagining those perfect, godsdamned beautiful lips wrapped around his dick and her hot, wet mouth and her tongue-

“Uh, um, well, it is up to you,” he stammered. “I am afraid that I probably will not be able to take much of that without finishing, but whatever you want, _Schatz_. Whatever would make you feel good.” Jester pursed her lips, clearly thinking her options through.

“I do want you to fuck me.” Caleb let out an unsteady breath, stroking over her side rhythmically to try to give himself something to focus on other than his intense arousal.

“Alright, so leave that for another time then, ja? I am sorry, it seems like you have wanted it.” Jester grinned and winked.

“I’m just very good at it and I like to show off.” Caleb dropped his head to the pillow with a groan.

“I am a weak man, Jester, do not tease me.” Jester scoffed.

“Oh, _please,_ you’re one to talk about teasing!” Caleb chuckled, running his fingers through her hair.

“You like to be teased.” She huffed.

“Yeah, but it’s still very mean of you.” Caleb smirked and bent to start kissing over her collarbone, her freckled breasts.

“Perhaps I would not tease you so much if you did not sound so delightful moaning my name.”

That got him a hiss of breath from Jester and a tug in his hair. Caleb worked his way down her stomach, laying teasing, light kisses and nips over sensitive skin. Gods, he really couldn’t get enough of her. The scent of her arousal, drifting to his nose from between her parted thighs, was making his mouth water. She was still making those delicious whimpers and sighs, carding her fingers through his hair, and her eyes were bright and dark with want. He kissed over her abdomen, lingering over her breasts and playing with her nipples, just enough to let the flames of desire inside him cool without dousing them. Soon enough, Jester was mewling under him again, writhing impatiently.

“Fuck, Cayleb, I’d have kissed you forever ago if I knew you were such a good lay.”

“Well, it is fortunate then that you are much braver than I am.” Caleb nuzzled into her neck. “Are you ready to keep going?”

“Yes, please, I need you inside me,” Jester moaned. Caleb’s need was growing in urgency again and he couldn’t drag this out any longer.

“Of course, anything you want,” he breathed. “How do you want it?”

“Will you lay behind me?” He nodded and shifted them so she was pressed against him, his chest to her back. Her tail draped over her waist and thumped on the bed, a small indicator of her excitement that Caleb found very endearing. Jester’s profile from this angle was perfection, the slope of her hips and curve of her ass accentuated, all of her divine femininity on display. Caleb had been with men and women, liked them both in different ways, but gods, nothing would ever compete with the transcendent beauty of a sensual, confident woman. If this was what brought people to goddess worship, Caleb could understand the devotion.

Positioning himself so his chin rested on her shoulder, Caleb slid his left arm under Jester, pulling her close, and she put an arm around her right thigh, lifting it to her chest so he could slide closer. He canted his hips forward, relishing in the delightful slide of his cock between her labia, which she responded to with a moan. He could feel her swollen clit against his tip, and once he was slick with her, he pushed into her, her passage accepting him easily. Jester gasped and arched her back, her cunt fluttering around him, hot and ready. Caleb gave her a moment to adjust to the stretch, but it was only a few seconds before she was grinding her ass back against him, looking for more.

Caleb hooked his free arm around the leg she was holding, helping her to keep it up, and braced himself against it as he started to thrust, dimly conscious that he was panting and moaning louder than he ever had. Fortunately, her sounds, high and enraptured, drowned him out, and he lost himself in the pleasure of her tight, wet heat, hardly conscious of the words spilling from him,

“Jester, oh fuck, you feel so good…I love making you cum, making you feel good…what a good girl, noisy girl, taking your pleasure…you are so fucking lovely, Jester, gods…so beautiful…”

Caleb moaned when he saw Jester slip her hand between her legs, felt her fingers brush against his cock as it disappeared inside her. She started rubbing her clit, making her cunt spasm, which was an amazing sensation for Caleb. At the first clench of her walls around him he choked and groaned in her ear.

“Please, please, please,” she panted, “I want to cum, Cayleb, please keep talking to me.”

“Oh, _Schatz_ , do you like when I praise you, tell you how gorgeous you are? How good it feels to be inside you? I love how you touch yourself when I’m fucking you, it feels so good, baby…I want you to cum, please, cum on my cock, Jester, ah, fuck, I’m so close for you-“

“Cum inside me,” Jester gasped, her free hand tangled in his hair. That was enough to send him over the edge, stars exploding behind his eyelids, a groan bursting from his throat as he let go and came deep inside her. As he came down, his thrusts shallow and slight now, he realized she was shuddering too, a long whine escaping her as she ground down on her fingers and came for the third time that morning.

Caleb slid out of her, wincing a little at his oversensitive cock, and collapsed beside her. He was certain she wouldn’t want to cuddle, given how sweaty he was, but Jester rolled over and flopped onto his chest. The two of them lay like that for a long while, catching their breath, recovering. _Well, I guess last night wasn’t some one-time fluke then._ Caleb could feel his eyelids closing, the post-orgasm relaxation making his whole body feel heavier.

“So then,” Jester finally giggled. “Good morning again?” Caleb tried to rouse himself from his half-dozing state.

“Ja, good morning indeed.” His eyes started drifting shut again against his will.

“Oh, so you’re one of _those_ guys.” He felt panic grip his chest, awake and alert now.

“ _Was?_ ”

“Who falls asleep right after sex.” Caleb laughed and pulled her a little closer.

“Well, I am an old man, as we have established. And it ah, has been some time since I was…with anybody.”

“How come?”

“Hmm?”

“How come you haven’t been with anyone? I mean, when we’re in towns and stuff and we get a chance to rest - you could if you wanted.” Caleb chewed on that for a minute, choosing his words carefully.

“That is not really my way. I do not really enjoy sleeping with strangers, at this point in my life. The fantasy is often more rewarding than the reality. I prefer…I prefer being with someone I know.”

Jester fell silent. It was comfortable silence, but Caleb’s doubts started to creep back in, a black tide advancing on a waiting shore. _Now…what? You should probably talk about this._ But gods, he didn’t want to. It felt like he had something desperately fragile in his palms, like a robin’s egg, and had to keep his hands just as they were in order to preserve it. Any movement, even attempting to put it on a more stable surface, might shatter it. It would only expose the fears, the weaknesses, the impossibility of this fantasy his brain was dutifully crafting for him, that maybe he could actually be with her. He wanted to hold Jester in his arms and rest in the afterglow of their lovemaking without letting reality creep into the soft, warm bubble they’d created in this room.

“I’m going to take a bath,” Jester yawned after a long while, rolling over and stretching.

“Probably for the best,” Caleb replied with a grimace. “You are not the only one who needs one.” Jester giggled and kissed him on the cheek before rolling out of bed.

“Well feel free to join me if you want,” she teased, her tail swishing behind her as she stepped out of the room. Once Caleb heard the water start running, he sighed and stared up at the ceiling. _You’ve got to get clear about what you want out of this, or you’re going to get caught on your back foot._ Truthfully, he desperately wanted to delay the inevitable, but falling into bed together and not discussing expectations was a recipe for disaster, if not for him then for Jester. He could handle setting himself up to get his heart broken, but he couldn’t bear the thought that she might get hurt.

Would it really hurt to just wait another day? Let himself enjoy this before it got ripped out from under him?

No, he decided, it wouldn’t. If he could keep the wheels of worry in his brain from spinning out of control, he would be able to relax for a little while and gather the memories to keep him warm on the nights ahead that he knew would feel colder and lonelier now that he’d tasted what this could be like.

Caleb rolled over and dressed, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. If he was taking a day and delaying a conversation that was certainly imminent, he wanted to make the most of it.

~~~

When Jester finished her bath, she took extra care to put on lotion and make her hair look nice, dressing simply in a cream wrap top embroidered with blue flowers and a dusty rose skirt. Jester didn’t think of herself as a tightly wound person, but she hadn’t felt this relaxed in forever.

She had gone to sleep last night a little worried, somewhere in the back of her head, that they’d wake up and regret this decision. When she woke up, she’d taken the initiative to kiss him, assuming his reaction would clear that question up for her faster than anything. Another round of mind-blowing sex later, and here she was. Jester wasn’t immature enough to think that was it; there was definitely a conversation to be had, at least, about what they both wanted from the other.

Jester had rehearsed this talk a few times in her head, and she felt pretty confident that she could very calmly and casually agree to a no-strings-attached, just for fun fling. It wasn’t until now, sitting at her vanity, when she’d run out of excuses to go downstairs, that she questioned whether that was what she wanted. She was pretty sure that Caleb wasn’t interested in anything else, but a conversation she had with her mom, several years ago now, floated back to her.

 _“Mama, I can’t believe you!_ You’re _really trying to tell me that casual sex is a bad idea?” Jester scoffed, turning back to her vanity to finish her makeup. She had been seeing this guy for a couple of weeks now, just for some fun, and made the mistake of telling her mom that it was a casual thing. The Ruby crossed her arms over her chest and sighed._

_“Jester, I’m not telling you that at all. I’m just saying, be careful. A woman doesn’t get so dolled up for a man if she doesn’t care a little about him.” Jester rolled her eyes. She really did not care a whit what this butcher’s boy thought; she liked that he was hot and had nice arms and a cute foreign accent, that was all._

_“It really isn’t like that, Mama.”_

_“I trust you, my dear. I just don’t want you to get hurt. If a little fun is all you want from him, have at it and enjoy yourself. But if you want more…I just don’t want to see you settle for less than you want, out of fear that otherwise you’ll get nothing at all. Inevitably, you’ll just get hurt because he isn’t going to give you what you’re looking for.” Jester looked up at her mother, reflected in the mirror, worry written on her forehead. She put her kohl pen down and went to sit next to her, looping her arms around her neck for a hug._

_“Thanks, Mama. I promise I won’t get hurt.”_

Jester hadn’t been lying to her mother, she really didn’t want anything out of that guy besides something to do. The two had parted ways amicably, when he started seeing a girl that he wanted to get serious with, and Jester had only fond memories of him and their trysts. But now, her mother’s words rang in her ear, reminding her not to settle for less than what she wanted. She probably ought to know what that was in order to decide what she was willing to accept. She’d started this whole seduction project just wanting to have a little fun, and now her confidence in that goal was wavering.

_You’re acting crazy. You’re just doubting yourself because there’s that…something there._

Jester knew as well as anyone that sex created connection between people, as much as it augmented what already existed. Her mama had many customers over the years who spent a night with her and stumbled out in the morning thinking they were in love; many of the other ladies at the Chateau had similar experiences. _That’s all it is. You’re feeling that morning after infatuation and it’s making you doubt whether you just want something casual._

Jester resolved to wait a bit, see how things shook out. She was certain that all she needed was for Caleb to do something that pulled her back to reality, just one thing, and she’d be back on solid ground, remembering all the one million reasons she’d listed for herself in the bath about why they couldn’t, shouldn’t and wouldn’t be together. They didn’t need to have this talk right away. She could just let things go on as they were so her mind would have time to settle. _And so you can keep having great sex?_ Well, she definitely wasn't eager to potentially ruin that part by talking about it.

Of course, it didn’t help that as soon as she went downstairs, Caleb’s sparkling blue eyes fell on her from where he sat at the table and he smiled shyly, pushing a paper box towards her.

“I got you these,” he mumbled, glancing up from his books to gauge her reaction. Jester opened the box and hooted with surprise and delight. These adorable little ginger cakes, topped with a sweet cream cheese glaze, were some of her favorite pastries in Rosohna, from a bakery she loved in the downtown area. There were also flaky turnovers, filled with blueberries, which she knew because Caleb was halfway through eating one. She tried not to read too much into that.

“Cayleb! Thank you!” She was so enthusiastic about fresh pastries that she had entirely forgotten -

“Wait, but we’re not supposed to leave here!” Caleb looked up at her with a smirk, one eyebrow raised.

“You are not usually such a rule follower.” Jester laughed.

“I know, but you could’ve gotten caught!”

“I am able to disguise myself, remember? Do not worry, it was worth it.” Jester’s heart pounded in her chest, nerves making her feel lightheaded. She compensated by staring down her ginger cake, getting out from under those eyes.

“I could tell on you to Essek,” she teased. “I totally have blackmail material now.”

“Oh, not that,” Caleb replied, sarcasm dripping from his words. “However would my reputation recover?” Jester almost choked on her cake, giggling.

“Well, I got pastries out of it, so I _guess_ I can let it go.” She winked. “Thanks, Cayleb. That was really nice of you.” He flushed and shrugged.

“No problem, _Schatz_. I thought it would make you happy.” Caleb reached over and squeezed her hand, his eyes turning back to his open books. When he let go, Jester found herself wanting to chase after it, almost reaching out her hand to take his again, but stopping herself. She couldn’t stop staring at the way his red hair framed his face, the sharp angles of his nose and the way freckles scattered over his skin, couldn’t help remembering how far down they went, how good it felt to follow them with her tongue-

“Jester?” She snapped out of it, looking up into those stupidly arresting blue eyes, which were staring at her quizzically. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, yeah, fine. Just thinking.” She offered a small smile and turned her eyes back to her half-eaten ginger cake.

“I was thinking,” Caleb started. “Um, I noticed the other night, when we took Jannik out, you seemed to really enjoy the landscape. I was thinking, if you wanted, of course, we could take him out again and bring your paints this time. I thought maybe you would like the chance to paint it, but if not, I mean, we do not have to do that. If you do not want to.” He glanced up at her, uncertainty obvious in his face. Jester beamed.

“That sounds really great, Cayleb.” He smiled back at her.

“Okay, whenever you want then, ja? I, um, I enjoy doing nice things for you, so. I do not mind.” Jester’s heart flipped over and over; his awkwardness and earnestness to please her were so endearing. As she finished the last bite of her ginger cake, only one thought was rolling around in her head:

_Oh, Jester, you are so fucked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This author does NOT condone breaking quarantine even to buy your new lover her favorite pastries. 😜
> 
> Thanks for your patience and encouragement, all!!


	6. laying in hospital, joy and misery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for your patience! I hope you like the next installment.

“So, I know you probably know this already, but I was thinking today I could teach you a trick for maintaining concentration during your spells that require it.”

“If I don’t, I want to learn!”

“Ja, okay. This is useful for what we are trying to do here because when you are first learning to access magic this way, it can be difficult to hold on to the magic long enough once you have ‘grabbed it’, so to speak. So I want to show you before we move on to other things because it will make it easier for you to learn those. Is that alright?” Jester nodded eagerly. Caleb smiled at her and threw up his dancing lights.

“This spell is a cantrip, but I still have to focus on it. You have probably also experienced this but if you have a spell you are keeping up, something like polymorph, it is difficult to hang onto it in the middle of battle or something. When you have taken hold of that lay line, what I try to do is keep reinforcing the rune, so that it takes more to weaken it. I think this would work for your spells, too, maybe, if you learned the runes for them.” Caleb showed her the glyph for the spell, a simple one marked out in his spell book, and her eyes followed his fingers as he retraced the key runes over and over again.

“Does that really help?” Jester asked, one eyebrow raised.

“It does for me. Spells like these, that I have been casting for a long time, I can do these motions over and over again without really thinking about it. I was taught that doing this strengthens them, so they are as firm in your hand as if you first cast them.”

“I’ll have to try it. I don’t have a lot of concentration spells that are low level, so I don’t want to mess with it now, but that’s helpful.” Jester jotted down notes in her sketchbook about what Caleb had told her. “How much more can you take before you lose concentration, compared to if you didn’t do that?”

“I am not sure precisely, I do not know that it could be measured, but I have noticed myself, quite a lot more. I actually hardly ever lose concentration on my spells when I do this.” A wicked idea started to creep into Jester’s mind. She grinned.

“Is that so?” Caleb raised an eyebrow at her.

“Ja?”

“I bet I could make you break concentration.” Caleb’s cheeks turned pink but he smiled back at her.

“You are very distracting. But I have been casting these spells for quite a long time now, and it takes a lot for me to lose my focus on them.”

“That sounds like a challenge, Professor Widogast.” Caleb’s blush darkened. “Want to make a bet?” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, looking straight at her.

“That depends, what kind of bet?”

“I bet that I can make you lose focus on your lights spell and if I lose, I’ll make dinner, but if I win, you have to cook dinner. I want three tries though, since the spell lasts a minute.”

“It sounds like in the event that you win, you still will lose, having to eat my cooking.”

“Oh I don’t think it’s that bad. Come on, move over here.” Jester grinned and took his hand, pulling him over to the couch. Her tail whipped behind her in excitement.

“It does not seem that you intend to play fair here, Miss Lavorre.”

“Oh, Cayleb, I never play fair! You know that.” Jester pushed him down to sit on the couch and settled herself in his lap, arms crossed over her chest. “Go on, put them up.”

Caleb stared at her for a moment, but did as she asked and put the lights up over them. Jester wasted no time, leaning to take Caleb’s mouth in a hungry kiss, slipping her hands under his shirt and running her fingers over warm skin. Caleb moaned softly, kissing her back with a grin, one hand sliding around her waist to pull her closer.

Jester slid her tongue into Caleb’s mouth, even reaching up with one hand to tug on his hair a little, which got her a nice, lusty groan, but the lights stayed up. With her other hand, she teased at his nipples, which she’d learned last night were deliciously sensitive, and kept kissing him like her life depended on it. It felt like it had been only a second before the dancing lights snuffed out, one minute already gone. Jester pulled away, breathless, and looked at Caleb, already flushed down to the collarbone, with a great deal of satisfaction. But he pinched her thigh and smirked at her.

“That’s one round gone, _Schatz_.” Jester pretended to pout.

“Well I’ll just have to try harder at the next one.”

As soon as the lights were up again, Jester rolled her hips against Caleb, noting that he was already stiffening between them. Hmm… Jester bent to mouth at his neck, running her tongue over the spots she found this morning that made him shiver, and began to kiss over his collarbone and chest, pausing only to tweak a nipple through his linen shirt. Caleb was warm and responsive under her, his roving hands braver than they had been last time they were in this position, as he palmed at her breasts and stroked over her thighs.

Jester climbed off his lap when she couldn’t bend any further, and kneeled on the ground between his legs. Pushing his shirt up, Jester kissed his stomach, stopping to leave a teasing love bite on his hip, which got her a sweet gasp that stoked the warmth spreading through her from her core.

She nuzzled into his lower stomach, relishing the sighs she pulled from him and the way his soft hair tickled her nose. Jester pulled the waistband of his pants down just slightly, so she could ghost her breath over the sensitive skin there, and - the lights went out again.

“I still have one more try,” she reminded Caleb, who was staring down at her, wide-eyed. Jester felt like she might be getting pretty close to making him break his concentration, and she really hated to lose.

“Ah, ja, but, you - um, you do not have to do _that_ , Jester, if you do not-“

“Do you want me to stop?”

“Gods, no-“

“Then start thinking about what you’re making me for dinner.” Jester waited for Caleb to put the lights back up and immediately unlaced his trousers, pulling them and his smallclothes down around his hips and letting his flushed length free. Gods, she was already wet, she could feel it - if she’d ever stopped being wet from earlier - and the thought of swallowing him down had her licking her lips in anticipation. Keenly aware that this was her last shot at winning the bet, Jester put on her best bedroom eyes and caught Caleb’s gaze, wetting her lips and pressing an obscene kiss to his tip, as slow and teasing as she dared while on the clock. She let her tongue dart out and swirl over the head, and then suddenly closed her lips around it and _sucked_ , and all at once, Caleb’s hips jerked up, his hand flew to her head and he swore loudly - and the dancing lights went out.

Jester laughed, easing up on the sensitive head of his cock, and smirked up at him - though she wasn’t sure whether the fact that his dick was still in her mouth added to or lessened the impact of her victorious expression.

“ _Scheisse, Jester!”_ Caleb gasped, threading a hand through her hair. She grinned and ran her tongue over the underside of his cock, glancing up to check his reaction. He looked gorgeous, blushing fiercely and unable to take his eyes off her, one hand still stroking over her head.

“A-are you sure?” Jester rolled her eyes.

“Just relax!” Caleb’s breath was coming ragged with anticipation; he was the furthest from relaxed. Jester reached up and placed his other hand on one of her horns.

“Don’t pull on it, okay? But if you need, you know, something to hold onto.”

With that, Jester swirled her tongue around the head of his cock again and took him into her mouth. Gods, she loved this feeling, having her senses totally consumed, being _full_ in a way that was so strange and erotic. She let her eyes close as she breathed in the scent of him, the herbaceous fragrance of his soap combined with the intoxicating musk of arousal that made her shiver. She let Caleb’s cock rest in her mouth for a moment, laving over it with her tongue, and then she started bobbing her head, using her hand to help where she couldn’t reach.

Caleb’s noises were driving her crazy; her other hand rested on his trembling thigh as he moaned and gasped above her. She could feel her panties getting soaked through as she found her rhythm, especially with the honeyed praise falling from his lips:

“Ohhhh, _Jester_ , fuck…so good…you feel like heaven…please, don’t stop, don’t stop, _Götter,_ oh, baby….ja, right there, fuck….”

Jester loved how Caleb’s accent thickened when he was aroused, the way some Zemnian words slipped into his sentences. It was no small accomplishment to suck a man’s cock so well he forgot how to speak Common. Jester wanted to touch herself so bad, she was aching, but she wanted to give Caleb her full attention and make it good for him. She pulled off his cock with a delicious wet sound and nipped at his thigh with her sharp teeth.

“You can talk in Zemnian to me.”

Jester didn’t wait for an answer before she took him back in her mouth, but the tensing of his muscles and the stuttering moan he let out told her everything she needed to know. She understood - sometimes she spoke Infernal in bed too, though she hadn’t done it with Caleb yet. It was nice to just say what you wanted without worrying what the other person would think. Clearly, Caleb felt the same way, dropping his head back onto the couch, still gripping her horn in one hand and stroking her hair with the other, and finally relaxed, spilling out everything he wanted to say without censoring himself:

“Götter, Jes, ich möchte so viel mit dir machen...verdammt, Baby, ich kann nicht genug von dir bekommen, ohhh Götter...mein schönes Mädchen, verdammt, du bist so verdammt heiß, so atemberaubend.... Deine Mund ist unglaublich, wunderschönes Mädchen, verdammt... Ich wollte dich so lange, so lange, ich liebe dich, ich liebe dich so sehr, Götter, Jester, ich bin nur wild auf dich…“

_[“Gods, Jes, there's so much I want to do with you...fuck, baby, I can't get enough of you, oh gods...my beautiful girl, fuck, you're so fucking hot, so stunning.... Your mouth is incredible, gorgeous girl, fuck...I have wanted you for so long, so, so long, I love you, I love you so much, gods, Jester, I am just wild about you…”]_

Jester didn’t need to speak Zemnian to know she was being praised, and frankly, it only increased her arousal. Fuck, it was so _hot_ when he spoke his native language. She moaned around his cock, the stuttering rhythm of his hips telling her he was close, and it wasn’t long before Caleb let out a strangled gasp and put a hand to her forehead.

“Jes, Jester, I’m-“

Caleb didn’t finish his warning, but Jester pulled off his cock immediately and stroked him hard, closing her eyes as the first splash of his cum landed on her clavicle. The way Caleb moaned her name as he came was just perfect, and Jester wanted to keep that sound locked away in her brain forever, if she could. She let out a satisfied sigh and made eye contact as she cleaned the last bit of spend off the head of his cock and her palm. Jester surprised herself a little, savoring the salt and earth of him on her tongue - she had never actually _wanted_ to taste a man’s release before, but with Caleb, she really, really wanted to.

Jester was only vaguely aware of her knees aching on the hard wood floor, too entranced with the way Caleb was gazing at her, face beet red, one hand still threading through her hair like it was the only thing keeping him tethered to the ground.

“….Wow.” Jester grinned smugly at the one word compliment. With a shaky hand, Caleb cast Prestidigitation, cleaning her blouse in one flick of his wrist. Jester climbed back up onto the couch and swung her legs into his lap as he fixed and relaced his trousers.

“I don’t like to lose.” Caleb chuckled, his hand running over her thigh.

“I, ah, I can see that. Let me take care of you now, ja? Would you like that?” The heat between Jester’s legs was insistent, reminding her that yes, in fact, she would like that.

“Yes, _please_ ,” Jester breathed. They switched places, Jester sitting and Caleb kneeling between her legs, pushing her skirt up and laying kisses over freckled thighs. Jester was in heaven the second his tongue dipped into her heat; it was almost embarrassingly quick, she was so turned on already. A few well-placed swipes of his tongue and two long fingers pressing into her and she was arching up and shuddering as her orgasm overtook her. Despite the brevity, Caleb moaned with delight all the same and took pleasure in sucking the taste of her off his fingers. Gods, she didn’t think she’d ever get tired of seeing that.

Jester slumped back onto the couch, shifting only to slot herself under Caleb’s arm when he sat down next to her.

“I need a nap,” she said, yawning. “We’ve been busy today.”

“Take one. Why not? There is nothing else you need to do.” _Because I don’t want to lose any time._ Whoa - where did _that_ thought come from? Jester surprised herself with how natural it felt, that of course she didn’t want to nap, because it would mean another hour she wasn’t spending with him. She was spent for the moment - she definitely didn’t want to have sex again. But there was that intimacy, the feeling of the barriers between them being gone, even though she knew full well they weren’t and that they were blurring lines dangerously every time they did this without discussing it. She wanted to bask in that feeling of closeness, just for a little while, before everything had to go back to how it was and they went home. Was that really so bad?

Jester shook her head.

“I think I’ll just make coffee.”

~~~

Caleb apparently took holding up his end of the bet quite seriously. It took a bit of time for them to pull themselves off the couch, quietly enjoying the intimacy of closeness, but eventually, they managed. Now it was late afternoon and Jester had been shut out of the kitchen for at least an hour. She didn’t have the slightest idea what Caleb was doing in there - in fact, she had seen him cook maybe three times ever, and two of them were since they’d been here - but it warmed the ache in her chest that he was being so sweet. On top of making dinner, he’d suggested going out to the flatlands so she could paint. _Kind of seems like a date_.

She didn’t…hate that idea. She wasn’t sure that was Caleb’s intent but the confidence she’d had earlier, that he wasn’t interested in anything other than a strictly physical relationship, was wavering. And if he wanted to plan these romantic gestures, well, she wasn’t going to stop him.

 _But what do you_ want?

Jester didn’t know if she had an answer to that question. It was astonishing how quickly things changed. In a matter of days she’d moved from realizing she was attracted to Caleb, to deciding to seduce him, to doubting whether she only wanted sex from him. There was a worry niggling at the back of her brain, reminding her that this insulated domesticity was on a clock, and that she needed to figure out what she wanted before they went home, without knowing how whatever this thing was between them might change when they did. Would she still feel the same way when he walked in the room? Was there even any wisdom in pursuing these types of attachments while living the adventuring life?

On top of not being able to predict her own feelings, Jester knew she didn’t have a firm grasp on Caleb’s. Would going home break whatever spell they were under? Would his eyes stop lighting up when he saw her? And then there was the small matter of _her_ , as Jester thought of Astrid. Did he still love her? Was that over, like over over? If he had the opportunity to go back to her, would he? Jester didn’t know everything about Caleb’s past, there were blank spaces that hadn’t been filled in yet for her, but she felt strangely…inadequate, when she thought of Astrid. Jester hadn’t gone through all that with him, like _she_ had. If this thing turned into something more tangible, would she always be looking over her shoulder wondering if someone was grabbing at her heels, someone who understood Caleb in a way she didn’t and never could?

_Ugh. This is bullshit._

Jester went upstairs and plopped herself down on the bed with her feet on the headboard.

“Mama? Can I talk to you?” She waited a few minutes and Marion’s soft voice wafted into her mind, like a warm summer breeze.

_Hello, my love! How are you? What’s on your mind? Of course I have time for you._

“I’m good, Mama, I hope you are too.” Jester sighed. “I wish I could see you in person. I’m just really confused right now.”

_About what? Does this have to do with, ah, what we talked about the other day?_

“Yeah, it does. I’m feeling really…weird. Everything is good, like, really good. I feel like I don’t want to be apart from him and I don’t know, even when I’m not like, wanting to have sex, I still want to spend time with him and he just makes me feel…good. I’m just confused. I don’t know if this is something or if it’s nothing.” The Ruby was silent for a long moment.

_Well, it can be hard to tell the difference, but…. Like I’ve always told you, when you know, you know._

“But why would I be feeling this way _now_? I’ve known Cayleb for a long time, I didn’t even think about him like that until we got here.”

_Sometimes, it takes some time to notice someone. Especially someone quiet, like him. Only you know what’s in your heart, Sapphire. You’re right that it could be just the way you feel when you’ve been intimate with someone. But you seem to be saying this feels different than how you’ve felt in the past._

“Yeah, it does, and it caught me really off guard, Mama. I was expecting…I don’t know, for it to be like with Davji. Just having some fun, and yeah, I felt closer to him when we did it but that’s not how it feels with Cayleb.”

_I think then that you should listen to yourself. Your heart is trying to tell you something is different here. That doesn’t mean you have to pursue it, but you should be honest with yourself about how you’re feeling._

Jester took a long moment to think about that.

“That’s sort of the other part. How do I know it’s a good idea? Like if I feel like this, how do I know that it’ll last once we’re back home? And…there’s one more thing that makes me kind of nervous. A long time ago, back before we all met, he had a girlfriend, and it was pretty serious. I don’t know if I can, you know, compete with that.” Jester heard her mother scoff in her head.

 _Darling, you are a treasure, and any man who can’t see that is blind and a fool. I didn’t get the impression when I met this man that he was either. But, if you are worried about that, you should talk to him and get clear about whether those…entanglements…are over. If you have any reason to believe they aren’t, well, you deserve someone who can commit to_ you, _no hesitation._

“I don’t know, Mama, it just seems to be going so fast.”

_You don’t have to do anything until you’re ready. But it seems to me that having this fling without knowing where you stand is causing you some distress, or you wouldn’t have asked for advice. There’s no way to be sure it’s for real, unfortunately. But I would ask yourself, would you rather risk being hurt or risk never have taken the chance? More often than not I decided the latter and that’s how I knew it wasn’t right. Only you can answer that._

“Thanks, Mama. You’re the best. I’m really lucky to have you.”

_I am the lucky one, my love. Good luck. I am always here for you._

Jester sighed and wiped her face over her hands. Her mom was right. Not knowing what was happening, having all these feelings in the way of what she expected to just be clearly bounded, casual sex, was making her anxious. And what if she tried to talk about this with Caleb and it scared him off, because she was going too fast?

This was a stupid, stupid, stupid idea.

Before she knew it, evening came and she was carrying her painting supplies on her back out to Jannik’s paddock, with Caleb in tow carrying a rolled blanket and whatever he’d made for dinner.

“This was a really good idea, Cayleb, thank you,” she said softly, nerves turning in her stomach, as she strapped the bag to Jannik.

“I am, ah, glad you think so.” Before boosting her up onto the moorbounder, Caleb pulled her in for a quick, shy kiss on her lips.

The ride out to the flatlands was just as enchanting as it had been the last time. Jester scooted close to Caleb, resting her cheek on the back of his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his waist. The thought of going home made her stomach sour, the idea that this would ever have to end. She knew she had to talk to him. She had to. But couldn’t she just turn her rational brain off for one more night?

When the cottage was just a pinprick of light behind them, and the spray of stars stretched across the whole horizon, Caleb slowed Jannik to a halt and turned his head back to look at her.

“Is this a good spot for you? I do not know if you can see what you would like to paint here.”

“No, this is good,” Jester replied, her face upturned to gaze at the sky. “It’s beautiful.”

“Ja, but it is only the second most beautiful thing here.” Jester’s heart flipped in her chest and she gasped and smacked his shoulder playfully.

“Cayleb! You’ve been reading too many cheesy smut novels!” He flushed but smiled at her.

“Ja, but you liked it. It does not hurt that it is true.” Jester pecked him on the cheek and swung her leg around to jump down off Jannik, offering up a hand to guide Caleb down.

“Jannik, _hinlegen_.” The giant moorbounder circled a few times and plopped down, reclining on one side. Jester stood awkwardly with her pack, unsure where to set up or what to do now or what was even really happening, in the grand scheme of things.

“Oh, ah, I was thinking, I can set up the dome, if you like, since it is a bit cold. I - no, it is silly to ask, I will just do it.”

Jester took a small bit of comfort in the fact that he appeared be just as nervous as she was. She started setting up her easel, her paints, and pulled her yellow linen shift dress over her head, the one she wore over her clothes when she painted. She even had a small folding stool to sit on while she worked. By the time she finished, and turned around, Caleb had cast the dome around them, spread the blanket and set out a spread of food from the basket he’d brought with them.

“Is this alright?” Caleb asked anxiously, gesturing to the dinner. “When I got those pastries for you, earlier, I also got bread, and cupcakes, lemon, because I know you like those, and um, I made a salad with apples and just some sandwiches, with bacon and lettuce. I am sorry it is not anything fancy. I just thought it would be easy to take out here and then you can eat whenever you are hungry. I do not want to interrupt your painting.” Jester beamed and walked over to him, reaching up to pull him into a long, sweet kiss.

“It’s perfect, Cayleb, thank you. Are you sure you’re ok to just hang out while I paint?”

“Ja, ja, of course, that is what I invited you out here for, no?” Jester kissed him again and settled into her workstation, mixing her paints, washing the canvas in a dark blue to prime the surface.

“Is it alright, if the dome is dimly lit? Will that ruin your light?” Jester shook her head.

“No, no, it’s fine. I can see just as clearly.”

As she took breaks from her work, she looked back a few times at Caleb, who was reclining against the wall of the dome, reading. When she caught his eye he smiled at her, but didn’t distract her from her work. Gods, he looked so handsome in this light. Jester suddenly felt a little shabby in her stained linen work dress. A few times, she wiped her hair out of her eye with a hand and realized too late she’d left a smear of paint, and used her arm to mix colors. She was a mess by the time they’d been there an hour, Caleb quietly reading behind her, the moons shining down on the scrublands.

If this was a date, Jester thought it might be the nicest she’d ever been on. She didn’t feel pressure, no anxiety, just lost herself in the art, trying to capture the silvery beams of moonlight and the scattering of stars across the horizon that defined this wondrous landscape. Caleb was occupied with his book, turning pages rhythmically, and she enjoyed the intimacy of the comfortable silence.

Jester left the first layer to dry and plopped down on the blanket with a sigh, wiping a slight sweat of concentration off her brow. Caleb closed his book and looked up at her painting.

“It looks wonderful, _Liebling,_ is it done?” Jester laughed.

“No, not at all. I have a few layers to go. This one just has to dry.” Jester unwrapped one of the sandwiches Caleb had made. “I would sit next to you, but I’m covered in paint,” she said through a mouthful of bread and bacon. Caleb waved his hand and the paint vanished, lifted off her and cast aside. Jester grinned and scooted over to sit closer. Caleb took his own food and pulled a bottle of wine out of the basket.

“I know you usually do not drink, but I got a sweet wine that I thought you might like. You can try it if you want, but if not, I will just have a glass, you do not need to join me.” Jester bit her lip. They called alcohol liquid courage, didn’t they?

“I’ll have a little.” Caleb nodded and poured her a small amount, the amber liquid swirling in the glass like fairy fire. Jester took a sip, the flavor sweet, a bit of a burning sensation but warming, not unpleasant. She decided she liked it.

The next hour flew by like nothing; Jester’s paint had dried long ago, but they kept talking, pouring more wine and telling stories and jokes. Jester laughed so hard she almost choked on a cupcake, but managed to recover, still laughing as she coughed up crumbs. A small part of her said that she should be embarrassed, hacking cupcake bits out of her lungs as she turned violet, but she felt entirely at ease with Caleb. Both of them had been in far more embarrassing situations in front of each other, and she was a little surprised that she was so completely comfortable being foolish in front of him.

Another hour passed and her painting was forgotten, the two of them lazily making out on the soft wool blanket, the sounds of night insects and birds filling the silence around their soft sighs.

As Caleb moved to kiss over her collarbone, his hands sliding up her thighs, Jester felt a sudden wave of panic wash over her. _If you do this again and then he rejects you, you’re going to be so, so fucked._ She reached out and snatched his hand, stopping it in its tracks, and Caleb immediately propped himself up, pulling his hands out from under her skirt.

“Jester? Are you alright?” Jester squeezed her eyes shut and sighed. Stupid, stupid, stupid brain. Why couldn’t she just enjoy another round of fantastic sex before she had to do this? Why couldn’t it just let her have some fun without getting feelings all mixed up in everything?

“I want to talk.”

Caleb visibly tensed and sat up, crossing his legs under him. Jester smoothed her skirt and sat up as well, facing him.

“I - I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to - everything is really great, this is so lovely, and you’re so great, and - fuck, I don’t know how this works, I just - need to talk to you,” Jester babbled, fingering her skirt and not looking at him. Caleb sighed, worry evident on his face when she glanced up.

“Ja, you are right. We should talk.”

“Um, okay. I don’t really know what to say, I guess, I just - um, I’ve really enjoyed everything. The last couple of days. But I feel like…maybe we should figure out, like….what is this?” Caleb looked at her for a long moment, lost in thought. “I mean, if you just want to like, be casual, or whatever, or, I don’t know, I just - thought we should put it all out there so nobody gets…hurt.” _So I don’t get hurt._

“What is it that you want, out of…whatever is happening here?” Caleb asked softly. Jester pursed her lips and looked back at her hands. She shrugged.

“I don’t know. I thought…I don’t know.” She wiped a hand over her face and groaned in frustration. “Why is it so hard just to _talk?_ Fuck! Okay, listen, we should just put it all out there, right?” She looked up; Caleb looked like a deer suddenly spotted in the forest. After a moment, he nodded.

“Ja. Listen, Jester, I…I do not know how to say this right, I guess.” She felt her stomach sink.

“If you just want things to be casual, no strings attached, I get it, I mean-“

“No, that is just the thing. I…am sorry that I did not speak to you sooner, I do not mean to…imbricate you in expectations, I promise you, I do not have any expectations.” Jester furrowed her brow. She really, thoroughly, did not understand what that meant.

“What do you mean?” Caleb looked down at his hands, folded in his lap, and then back up at her.

“It was wrong of me, to sleep with you.” Jester’s stomach clenched and she felt panic rush over her in a wave - _you cannot cry, do not cry, you need to get out of here_ \- but managed to maintain her composure, at least for the moment.

“Oh.” Clearly seeing her emotion on her face, Caleb reached out and took her hands.

“No, no, Jester, please, I am sorry, do not misunderstand me - I do not mean that I regret it. I really do not.” She frowned again.

“Okay, then what _do_ you mean?”

“I mean that, I should not have let that happen…how it did. And…today. Tonight. I should not have done all this without being honest with you.” _I don’t like you like that._ Jester could hear the words coming, bit her tongue between her front teeth so she’d at least keep tears from springing to her eyes where he could see them.

“Honest with me how?” _I don’t like you like that. How could I? I still have someone. She knows me better than you ever could._ Caleb was quiet for a long moment.

“I cannot do this with you, Jester, casually. Last night, this morning, all of it, I should not have done it without saying so to you. I have…enjoyed every second of it, it is not that at all. It is just that, I cannot continue this way…without it meaning anything. I am selfish, and I know that it is not reasonable, I do not mean to put you in a bad position and I promise, really, Jester, there are no hard feelings and you are doing nothing wrong-“ Jester finally processed his words and surged forward to pull him in for a kiss, her mouth hot and wanting and affirming against his.

“I want you,” she breathed, when they finally parted. Caleb looked at her in confusion.

“Okay, but that is what I was just saying, I do not think-“

“Not like that. I mean, yes, like that, but also - I want to give this a shot. If you do.”

“As in…?”

“As in, I want to try it. Being…something. With you. If you do too.” Caleb stared at her for a moment, face blank.

“I - ja, I do. I want you. I have wanted you for a long time.” Jester squeezed his hand shyly.

“Cayleb?”

“Yes?”

“I have to ask you about something, first, though.”

“Of course. Anything.” Jester bit her bottom lip, squeezing his hand again for courage.

“Astrid.”

“Oh, Jester….”

“I just,” she hurried to add. “I just need to know that…it’s over. You wouldn’t…if you could. Go back to her.”

“Gods, Jester, no. No, not at all. I…I can see how maybe it would seem that way. No. It is…hard to explain. Sometimes…I miss the person I was back then. I was sure of many things. I had not been broken yet. And I loved her very much, when I was Bren. But I am not Bren anymore. I am offering you me, as I am. Imperfect. Not him, just me. If you want Caleb Widogast, I am yours. Not hers, never hers. I promise.”

Jester felt her throat prickle with relief and sighed, reaching her hands out for him, and Caleb leaned forward, taking her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. She kissed him back, pulling him back down onto the blanket with her, his weight and warmth comforting and exciting at the same time.

She was getting familiar with the taste of him now, herbaceous and spicy and intoxicating, and let her eyes drift shut as she opened her mouth for him. These weren’t the lazy, exploring kisses of before the interruption, these had heat behind them, and Jester found her desire flaring up again quickly. Caleb propped himself up on his elbows and just gazed at her, his blue eyes warm, one hand carding through her hair.

“I am one lucky man,” he sighed. Jester giggled and pulled him by his shirt into another kiss.

“Not as lucky as me.”

Jester gently guided Caleb onto his back and straddled him, trying her hardest not to break their kissing. She let out a small moan when his tongue pushed against her lips, one hand coming up to cup the back of her head. Jester planted her palms on either side of his head and just enjoyed the feeling of their mouths against one another, the roam of his hands over her shoulders, her back, her round ass. She rolled her hips against him, just slightly, but she could feel his arousal growing between her legs.

Something about doing this here, out in the open, made it even more exciting, even though Jester knew nobody could see inside the dome even if there was anyone around to look. The backdrop of stars and the moons in the sky felt like one of her cheesy romance novels, and if it wasn’t actually happening to her right now, she would have scoffed at herself for imagining it.

One part of Jester felt like she could lie here, making out with Caleb, forever, but another, much larger part, was tight and aching and wet and wanted him inside her right fucking now. Clearly, she wasn’t the only one, as it didn’t take long for Caleb’s lips to move to her jaw, her ear, her throat.

“So beautiful,” he whispered against her skin, before running his tongue over her jaw. Jester hummed, stretching her neck to give him access and silently ask for more. He gave it to her gladly, mouthing over her throat, her collarbone, his hands stroking over every inch of her as her tail whipped back and forth in anticipation behind them.

Jester felt Caleb’s fingers start to slide under her skirt, teasing, light, and she nipped his lower lip to encourage him. He responded by pinching her thigh and she yelped, sitting upright, the grin on his face sending her heart fluttering in her chest. She couldn’t help but smile back and pulled her work shift up over her head, tossing the stained garment aside. Caleb’s eyes roved over her appreciatively, drinking in the fullness of her breasts and the curve of her hips that had been covered by the linen dress.

She bent back down to keep kissing him, her whole body crying out to be touched, and she sighed with relief when she felt Caleb’s fingers working at the tie on the side of her wrap shirt. Jester propped herself up a bit, not unconsciously pushing her breasts out, and let out a small whine and roll of her hips as he pushed her shirt open and took her breasts in his hands. Caleb wasted no time, thumbs circling over her nipples, kissing every inch of newly exposed blue skin, and Jester arched back and moaned as she felt him pull down one of the cups of her bra and seal his mouth around her nipple.

Jester shrugged out of the rest of her shirt and with trembling fingers, went to work on her skirt, fumbling with the ties in her dizzy, aroused state.

“Does that feel good, baby?” Caleb teased, turning his attention to her other breast.

“Yes, you -haaaa - know it does…”

“I plan to make you feel _very_ good tonight, _Liebling.”_ Jester shivered in delight at his words, her whole body alive to his touch.

“You’re wearing an - ohh, fuck - awful lot of clothing for that,” she replied, knowing the effect was lessened by the gasps his mouth was pulling out of her.

“I thought you liked to unwrap your own gifts?” Jester narrowed her eyes at him.

“Tease.”

Jester immediately started pushing his shirt up, her fingers sliding along warm, soft skin, and didn’t bother hiding her stare when he sat up to pull it off. Desire flowed through her veins, hot and thick and slow, as she drank in freckled shoulders, copper hair and soft skin flushed pink. She could feel the heat coming off Caleb now that he was sitting upright, pressed so close to her, and Jester couldn’t get enough.

“Please…” she moaned, as his hands went to the clasp of her bra. The straps loosened and she shrugged out of it, naked to the waist, and hummed with pleasure when Caleb pulled her in to kiss her again, one hand at the back of her head, the other cupping her breast. His chest brushed against hers, the hair grazing against her peaked and sensitive nipples, making her gasp.

Jester could feel the ache and heat between her legs becoming more and more urgent, as she rolled her hips against Caleb in a frustrated bid for more stimulation. His erection was straining in his trousers now, and gods, she wanted it, wanted him inside her, even just for him to touch her where she needed him-

“Can I go down on you, _Schatz_?” Caleb breathed against her lips, his palming of her breasts more desperate and wanting than before.

“Gods, fucking _please_ ,” Jester groaned, and almost whined at the loss of his body against hers when he lay back on the blanket. Another wave of arousal crested over Jester when she realized what Caleb wanted and she grinned, standing briefly to divest herself of her skirt and panties. She was totally naked now, out in the open, and the thought sent a shiver down her spine, the idea that if anyone _could_ see inside the dome, they’d be able to watch as she sat on Caleb’s chest and planted her knees on either side of his head. His blue eyes sparkled up at her and Jester couldn’t even be self-conscious, couldn’t even wonder whether she looked good from this angle, not with him looking at her like that.

“You look like a goddess,” Caleb murmured, his eyes fluttering shut as he started to kiss over her freckled skin. He slid his arms between her thighs and calves, so she was sitting on his shoulders, and held her by the hips as he guided her to his mouth. Jester was grateful for the hands on her waist, grounding her, as soon as his tongue slipped between her labia and she felt the first brush of it against her clit, and she let out a choked groan, her hands flying to his.

After a few delicious moments, Jester began to roll her hips, gently grinding against Caleb’s tongue, and the moan he made went right through her, sending waves of stimulation through her whole body.

“Oh, fuck, Cayleb, feels so good,” she moaned, letting her body take over. Looking down at Caleb, her heart jumped into her throat, the intensity of his eyes on her and sheer affection in them almost overwhelming. Jester let her eyes fall shut and lost herself to his attention. Caleb knew how to drive her crazy, bringing her close to her peak and then backing off again, pressing his tongue into her and then turning to broad, flat strokes. Jester approached her orgasm twice, each time squeezing his hands in hers and her breath stopping in her chest, before he withdrew from her clit and moved to lave over the hard, spasming muscles of her entrance. When Jester’s climax started to rise up inside her for the third time, there was no stopping it, and she felt it hit her like a wave, dragging her under, and she was grinding down, a high, loud keen spilling out of her as her muscles locked up and she came over Caleb’s tongue. He moaned as she released in his mouth, pressing his face deeper into her cunt and kissing desperately over her slick, swollen clit.

“Gods, I cannot get enough of you,” Caleb panted, his thumbs rubbing circles into her hipbones. Jester shifted down so she was straddling his hips again, running her hands over his flushed chest. Caleb was a sight, his cheeks bright red, his beard dark and wet with her, and the heat and hunger in his eyes was unmistakeable. She bent to kiss him and moaned at the taste of herself on his tongue, and the thought that the hard length against her was the result of how much he loved eating her out. She could feel Caleb unconsciously pressing up against her, desperate for friction, and Jester reached between them to unlace his pants, eliciting a small groan from Caleb when she brushed his erection.

“Fuck, I want you so bad,” she mumbled, fumbling the laces.

“I - ahhh - want you too, gods, Jester…”

She finally succeeded in getting his trousers undone and yanked them down around his hips, along with his smallclothes, and Caleb sighed with relief as his red, rock hard cock, tip glistening in the dim light of the dome, came free of the bindings. Jester’s mouth went dry again with how bad she wanted it.

“Can I be on top?” Jester asked, taking his cock in hand and stroking to coat it with the pre-cum that had gathered at his tip.

“When you are t-touching me like that, baby - _ahhh_ \- you can hah…h-have anything you want.” Jester smirked and gave him another hearty squeeze before shifting her hips to line her entrance up with the head of his dick. She delighted in the high moans he made and the tight grip of his hands on her thighs as she slid her slick cunt over it, teasing him.

“ _Götter, Jester, please, please, ahhhh,_ that feels so _good…”_

“Please what?” She teased, her tone sweet and light. Caleb groaned, throwing one arm over his face.

“Please, baby, I need to be inside you.” Caleb was blushing furiously now, his arm hiding his expression, and Jester gently laced her fingers in his and pulled his arm to hold her around the waist.

“I have a very handsome boyfriend, who makes very nice faces when we have sex, and I would like to see them.”

Jester beamed at his surprised laugh and lined her hips up with him again. Sitting upright, she lowered herself onto his cock, gasping as he opened her, her thighs trembling at the sudden stimulation and fullness and gods, yes, everything she needed as he bottomed out inside her, filling and stretching her exactly how she wanted. At this angle, the curve of his cock slid just right against her sweet spot when she rode him, and she knew she wasn’t going to last very long before she came again. Caleb was panting hard, looking up at her like she was a divine sight, his hands stroking over her thighs and stomach.

Jester started moving in earnest now, riding him harder, and it wasn’t long before the sensation was too much to stay upright. She collapsed over Caleb’s chest, taking his mouth with hers, keening loudly when he started thrusting up into her.

“Oh, fuck, Jester, ahhhhh, you feel so good,” he murmured, one hand around her shoulders. “Beautiful, incredible girl…I am yours, all yours, always, gooooods…”

Jester loved that his mouth just spilled open when they had sex, whatever doubts or worries that usually stopped him from saying what he felt suppressed by the pleasure impulse. She wasn’t quiet herself, but she couldn’t make any coherent sentences, so she rewarded him with her moans and gasps instead.

Jester yelped in surprise when she felt his hand wrap around the base of her tail, the feeling unexpected but not unpleasant. Caleb slowed his thrusts and looked up at her.

“Is this okay? Does this- ah! - feel good?” he asked, breathless and beautiful. Jester nodded, desperate.

“Yes, yes, please, give me more!”

Caleb stroked the length of her tail, as much of it as he could reach, and the sensation made a shiver roll over Jester, a low groan escaping her that surprised even her. She thought she might cum on the spot when he drew her tail around between them, not breaking eye contact, and started to kiss at the spade of it, growing bolder and running his tongue along the length when he saw her blissed out, deeply wanting expression.

“Ja?”

“Yes, fuuuuuck, please!”

He kept going, sucking at the end of her tail, nipping long the length of the spade, and Jester felt herself just on the edge again when he let go suddenly, letting her tail drop beside them.

“Not yet, baby.”

Jester let out a broken sob, her whole body trembling, so close, so fucking close to cumming again, but the look in Caleb’s eyes was intoxicating and she wanted to do anything he said, the hunger on his face promising more if she could just keep it together, just a little longer….

“Are you close for me, _Liebchen?”_ Caleb whispered in her ear, pulling her close. “Almost ready to cum for me?”

“Yes, yes, I am, oh gods, fuck, please, please make me….”

“Good,” he murmured, pulling her into another hot, claiming kiss. “I will make you cum, I promise, just be patient for me, baby, I promise….”

Jester whined, dropping her head to his shoulder. She could be good, she could, she knew she could…. Caleb reached up and pressed two fingers to her lips, which she accepted with a moan, sucking them and getting them wet. Jester was trying so hard not to cum, so hard to just hold on, and then Caleb pulled his fingers out of her mouth and reached behind her and she felt a warm, slick finger circling the hot, tight ring of muscle just under her cunt, and Jester choked and let out a loud keen, grinding her hips down on the base of his cock.

“Do you like this?” Caleb panted, “I - I only want to if you like it.” Jester nodded, and heard him groan in her ear as one of his long fingers started to push inside her, and fuck, she never thought she could feel so _full_ , between his thick cock and his finger in her ass, Jester was on the edge, and then the pad of his finger started circling inside her and he thrust up into her _just_ right and she was gone, both holes clenching on him, her whole body spasming, and she made a stammering, desperate sob that felt appropriate for her shivering, blissed out state. Within seconds, Caleb pulled his finger out of her, held her by the hip and thrust up into her one, two more times before clasping her tight with a gasp and releasing inside her. Jester felt the warm wet of his orgasm flood her insides and she whined with satisfaction at the sensation, too spent to even keep her eyes open.

They lay together for a long few minutes, kissing, giving soft, loving touches, not wanting to be apart.

“Oh, Jester,” Caleb sighed, stroking her back.

“Mmmm. Yeah?”

“I am so lucky.”

"Me too."

Jester pecked Caleb on the cheek and pulled off him, rolling to the side and into the crook of his arm.

“Do you want to sleep here, tonight, _Schatz_ , or go back to the house?” Jester thought for a long moment.

“We should probably go back to the house.” Caleb nodded and kissed her forehead.

“No rush. I will pack up.” He pulled his pants back on and set about cleaning up the small campsite, repacking food and her paints and when it was time to clean up the blanket, Jester finally sighed and pulled her work shift back over her head and shimmied into her underwear. Her other clothing went straight into her pack, no energy for folding.

On the ride back, Jester wrapped her arms around Caleb’s waist and nuzzled between his shoulder blades, her eyelids heavy. When she opened them again, she was back in the cottage, in bed, still in her painting dress. Caleb was putting his books and day clothes away carefully, folding them and stacking them neatly. When she stirred, he looked over at her and smiled.

“Sorry I fell asleep,” she mumbled, stretching.

“Do not worry. Fortunately for us both, you can still walk yourself when you are asleep, or we would have really been in trouble.” Jester laughed, sleepy and held her arms out for him. Caleb slid into bed beside her, pulling her close to his chest. She settled into his arms, her cheek pressed against his chest, her tail wrapping around his leg.

“I’m really…happy.” Caleb kissed the top of her head.

“Ja, I am too, baby.” Sleep washed over her like a tidal wave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're docking this ship next chapter! Thanks for your encouragement and comments, it's helped motivate me for sure!


	7. put out the fire boys, don't stop

The end of their time in the cottage was bittersweet. Jester was glad to hear from Essek that they could return home; Jester and Caleb both missed their friends and wanted to get back to normal life. But she felt like she needed more time, not for her health, but for exploring this fragile new thing blooming between them. The prying eyes of the rest of the Nein were, to say the least, unwelcome in that.

They had decided that they wanted to keep this to themselves. It wouldn’t be possible to hide their relationship from the other members of the group forever, but for now, when every minute and every touch and kiss was exciting and new, that was something they didn’t want to share with anyone else. So going home, while a relief, also meant they wouldn’t be spending nearly as much time together, that they would be sleeping in their own beds, that there wouldn’t be any more sweet kisses stolen just because one passed by the other.

When they finally couldn’t find any excuse to delay their departure - everything was packed, the house had been cleaned so well it was like they’d never been there, Jannik had the bags secured to his saddle - Jester wrapped her arms around Caleb and pulled him in for a long kiss, something she knew that she soon wouldn’t have the luxury of doing whenever she wanted. Caleb held her close, savoring her too, his thumb brushing gently over her cheek.

“Hey, it will be nice to be home, ja?” Caleb murmured, one arm still around Jester’s waist. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “What are you thinking about, _Schatz_?” Jester sighed.

“I know it’s silly to be sad, I just like, you know…spending so much time together. It’ll be weird to sneak around.”

“I know. If it would not be totally disingenuous and cause our friends to worry, I almost thought about telling Essek we got sick after all….” Jester giggled, a small part of her relieved that he was going to miss this too. She had worried that maybe she was in deeper than he was, constructing a fantasy of the cottage as a romantic bubble that he didn’t share.

Caleb pressed another kiss to her lips, this one with a little more heat under it. He caught her bottom lip with a playful nip as they broke apart.

“But of course you can always come down to my room after Beauregard is asleep…” Jester rolled her eyes. “What? Not just for, you know, intimacy…I mean, that too…” She grinned, feigning annoyance with him.

“Come on, if we get home any later than we said, Nott’s going to lead the rescue party herself.”

The ride back to the Xhorhaus was over too soon. Jester scooted back on the moorbounder and removed her arms from around Caleb’s waist as soon as they neared home. The Nein was thrilled to see them, everyone streaming out of the house as soon as they came down the path, babbling about what had transpired in their absence. Most of it was mundane, Marion had sent Jester a package that arrived while she was gone, Caduceus made a strawberry cake to celebrate their return, Luc had invented a new game that he wanted Jester to try with him.

That night, the group wanted to go out and celebrate their reunion at the bar. It was a raucous evening, as it always was when the Nein went out drinking. Beau borrowed Jester’s sketchbook to make caricatures of the rest of the group, Jester spent over an hour telling Caduceus all about Kiri, when she realized Caduceus had never gotten to meet her. Caleb danced with Nott, whirling her around the tavern floor, but as he got progressively more tipsy, stayed close by Jester. She felt a thrill go through her every time his gaze lingered on her a little longer than usual, or he dared to squeeze her knee under the table when nobody was looking.

As the evening progressed, Jester started to get hot under the collar, from the excitement of sneaking around as much as from Caleb’s attention. When Fjord started to yawn and Yasha stood to head back to the house, Jester jumped at the opportunity. Caleb slid an arm around her waist as they started walking and she draped it over her shoulders instead, teasing loudly about how he was so drunk. She hoped the others would think he was too intoxicated to walk properly and needed to lean on her, though the truth was that he wasn’t bothering with discretion about their relationship, the buzz of alcohol lowering his inhibitions.

They finally got back to the Xhorhaus after what felt like an eternity, and Jester had to stop herself from practically running through the front door.

“I’m going to make sure Caleb gets to sleep okay.” She wasn’t lying, not entirely, though she was omitting exactly _how_ she planned to make that happen. Excitement hammered in her veins at the thought that the others all saw them going off to bed together, even if they didn’t know that’s what they were looking at.

As soon as they were through the door of Caleb’s bedroom, they were on each other, kissing desperately, hands tangled in hair and clothes.

“I _missed_ you,” Caleb murmured against her lips, a smile playing between their mouths. Jester giggled and kissed him again.

“I was here all day!”

“Ja, but I did not get to kiss you or take your hand or hold you all day long.”

“You sound like a smut novel,” she teased.

“Well, I cannot say I did not want other things too…” The taste of alcohol on his tongue was sharp and bitter and exciting as he ran it over her bottom lip. “Gods, you look so gorgeous in that blue dress, Jester, I wanted to lay you out over the table right there, in front of everyone....” Jester moaned at the sound of that, the words sending a wave of arousal between her legs.

“Fuck…I wanted you too,” she whined.

“Well it’s a good thing I was lucky enough to get you alone tonight,” Caleb purred, his hands sliding over her back and down to her ass.

“Aren’t you tired though?”

“Never too tired for you, _Schatz_.” Jester hummed with satisfaction, her want growing with every minute they stood propped against the door, making out like teenagers.

“But if you are tired...”

“No, I’m not,” she assured him quickly. “Are you sure you’re okay to do anything? Not like, too drunk?” Caleb shook his head.

“Only a little tipsy. If you are not comfortable, though, that is alright.”

“I trust you.”

Jester wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss. Caleb’s hands at her waist gently guided her back, towards his bed, and another bolt of excitement went through her when she realized that this was the first time they were doing it in the Xhorhaus. The intimacy of being in his bedroom, a room Jester had only been in a few times before, briefly, was intoxicating. She wanted to inhabit all the space that was his, take in as much as she could about him from it. Jester drank in every detail, from the way he stacked his books on the nightstand, to the faint scent of him on the sheets, to the positioning of the small shaving mirror and hairbrush he kept by the washbasin. She had to admit, however, that it was difficult to think too much about anything with Caleb over her, mouthing at her neck, his small pleased noises warming her blood.

“Mmmm, that feels so good,” she breathed, earning a teasing nip to her throat.

“I have to say, you sound even better in my bed than I thought you would.” Jester’s heart skipped at the image of Caleb lying in here at night, fantasizing about her.

“Thought about it a lot?” She teased, running her fingers through his hair as he eased the sleeves of her dress down off her shoulders; she hadn’t even noticed him working on the buttons on the back.

“Oh, yes,” Caleb murmured, glancing up at her between kisses to her diamond dust tattoo. His eyes were dark with lust and slightly hazy from the thick of alcohol. “All the time.”

“Tell me.”

“Hmm?”

“Tell me what you imagined.” She felt him breathe in sharply against her. Caleb pulled the top of her dress down further, revealing her breasts spilling over the top of her leather over-corset. His fingers started to work at the laces on it, bending to tease her freckled skin with his tongue. Jester’s desperation was growing, she could feel the wet between her legs and she whined softly in a wordless plea for more.

“You underestimate my imagination if you think I _only_ fantasized about bedding you in here.” Caleb’s tongue teased over one of her nipples and she sucked in a breath and let it out in a frustrated groan. It was so good, she wanted more, she didn’t want him to stop, but fuck she wanted him to stop so he could get around to fucking her already.

“Cayleb!” Her annoyance was only partially feigned. He grinned, nipping her breast gently. “Anything, tell me _anything_ you thought about….”

“Mmm, well, I had quite a few ideas when we decided to put that hot tub in…. Might have been some of why I agreed to the expense, against my better judgment.” Jester moaned, stifling her volume at the last second when she remembered they weren’t in the privacy of the cottage anymore. “Thought about how fucking good you look when you’re all wet…licking the drops of water off your skin….”

One of his hands, which was cupping her breast, started to circle over her nipple. Caleb ran his tongue over the other, sending a white hot arrow of pleasure straight to Jester’s cunt. She moaned happily and kept stroking his hair.

“Fuck…yes, that’s so hot, what else…?”

“Well the first time I realized how strong you are, I had quite a lot of thoughts about that….”

“Mmmm, like what?” Jester sighed, writhing under his teasing touches over her nipples. Caleb blushed bright red.

“Oh, well…I, um, had a few fantasies about how much I would like for you to…be in control. We both know you could shove me around any way you want, and…maybe I would like you to. A little.” Jester was surprised by the warmth that thought stoked inside her. She bit her lip in a mischievous grin.

“That sounds like it would be nice.” Caleb gave a relieved smile.

“Sorry, I hope that was not, ah, strange to say, I am a little - well, my inhibitions are a little lowered right now and I do not want to be dishonest with you.” Jester threaded her fingers through his hair again and tugged, earning a lusty moan, and guided his lips back to her breast.

“Don’t apologize for wanting to try something, Cayleb. You can always tell me what would make you feel good. I think that sounds like a lot of fun. Not tonight, but another time.” She pulled his hair again, hissing in a breath when his teeth closed gently around her nipple. “Tell me more.”

“Oh, fuck,” he moaned, kissing over her chest, switching to the other nipple. “Gods, Jester…. When we used to have long stretches on the road, I imagined laying you down in the woods, just like this, all cute and wanting under me, and reaching between your legs and finding you so fucking wet…thought about how good you’d look, when I slid my fingers into your tight cunt, the gorgeous faces you would make…they are even better than in my imagination.”

“Please, please,” Jester whined, spreading her legs. “I want it.”

“Want what?” Caleb teased, grinning against her.

“Your fingers, _please_ , Cayleb…” Jester begged, unable to hold still under him for all her wanting. He stood to pull her dress the rest of the way off, her underwear following, and kneeled between her legs, running his hands over her hips, her stomach, her breasts. The way he looked at her, like she was a treasure too precious to touch and the finest meal all at the same time, sent shivers of desire through her, a hazy willingness to do anything he asked. Caleb leaned over her, taking her mouth in a hot, nakedly sexual kiss, his desire for her so evident between them.

“Do you want me to make you cum with my fingers, _Schatz_? Or do you want me to open you up?”

“Do I have to choose only one?” Jester asked with a smile. He chuckled against her mouth, low and warm.

“ _Nein_ , you do not.” He nuzzled at her neck, pressing kisses to her jaw. “You know, I pretend like I have some kind of control here, but I’m mad about you, Jester. I would give you anything you asked for, my brilliant, beautiful girl. I’m a fool when it comes to you.” Jester turned her head to capture his mouth with hers, this kiss sweeter than the last.

“I feel like that, too,” she whispered. She didn’t have his silver tongue, but the depth of her sincerity was obvious in her simple agreement. “Like nothing else matters but you. Making you happy.”

“I am happier than I thought I could ever be again,” Caleb replied, playing with her hair. The pair kissed softly for a few long moments, the heat of desire still present but dimmed to a warm pool of waiting embers, the three little words neither was ready to say hanging in the space between their lips.

“I believe you had a request I have yet to fulfill,” Caleb whispered in her ear, his hand reaching down to cup her between her legs. Jester’s whole body jerked at the stimulation and she nodded eagerly. His smirk was stupidly handsome and she couldn’t bring herself to care that she was definitely stroking his ego. If anyone could use it, it was him.

Caleb’s fingers slid between her labia, reaching into her hot, slick cunt, and the noises her body was making, wet and obscene, were enough to make her blush. Jester was gone as soon as she felt two of his fingers enter her, her hole clenching around them, almost pulling him in.

“Oh, _fuck_ ….”

“Mmmm, does that feel good, baby?” He purred, his other hand pressing her hips into the mattress to hold her still.

“Unh, yes, fuck, haaaa, it does, it does….” Caleb started to slide his fingers in and out of her, deftly avoiding her sweet spot for the first minute, letting the hard bundle of sensation swell until she was squirming. When his third finger entered her and suddenly pressed up on her pleasure center, Jester’s hips bucked up and she swore loudly, clapping a hand over her mouth to stifle her moans. Caleb chuckled softly.

“We have to keep it down, _Schatz_ , I know it is hard… I love your noises, letting me know how good I’m making you feel.”

Jester whined plaintively and arched her back, getting closer but not quite reaching where she needed. Caleb was opening her gently, stretching her walls so she could take him easily. She couldn’t tear her eyes off his face as he watched the responses of her body, like she was a new spell he was learning how to work.

“You need more?” Jester bit her lip and nodded, her breath coming ragged and hard now. Without removing his fingers, Caleb knelt on the ground beside the bed and spread her thighs further and further apart with the other hand, until Jester grew impatient and hooked her arms under her knees and just pulled them up herself. She was too turned on to be embarrassed by her profane begging and was encouraged by the pleased noise Caleb made as she did. His fingers were still working in and out of her, and Jester gasped when she felt his tongue flick over her clit, her hips jerking again, though she had less mobility in this position.

“Hmmm, I do not want you to cum just yet, baby…” Caleb looked her over thoughtfully and then lowered his head between her legs again, his tongue circling the edge of her passage, where his fingers were inside her. That made her moan softly, good, so good, but still not pushing her up to the peak like she wanted. Her clit was so sensitive, too sensitive, and she wanted to touch it, but that would just send her over the edge in a less satisfying climax. Then, all of a sudden, she felt the flat of Caleb’s tongue _under_ his fingers, caressing her other hole, sending an entirely different kind of pleasure coursing through her. She let out a throaty moan before she could stop herself, and Caleb glanced up at her from between her legs, his fingers still holding her open.

“Good?”

“Fuck _yes_.”

She heard Caleb hum in satisfaction and bend back down, his tongue teasing her rim more confidently now, his fingers working her rhythmically, and Jester was quickly reduced to a whimpering, quivering mess. She’d never felt anything like _that_ before, and once she felt the tip of his tongue press into her, her hand flew down to her cunt and started rubbing her clit furiously, desperately ready to cum now, and every sensation was magnified, her cunt clenching down around Caleb’s fingers, her hole fluttering under his tongue. He groaned with pleasure against her, the vibrations bringing her to the peak and then he pressed her sweet spot again and she came _hard_ , gasping and panting as she shook and a slight rush of wet squirted over Caleb’s fingers. Caleb pressed a kiss to her spasming, sensitive rim and pulled his fingers out of her cunt, pausing to wash them clean with his tongue.

“I love making you cum,” he murmured, holding himself over her and stroking her hair. Jester was boneless and hazy in her afterglow, and she was grateful for the recovery time as they kissed, her desire not quite sated yet. Caleb’s breath was warm and intense against her skin, and his mouth was hot as he chose a spot on her shoulder and sucked a light bruise into it. Jester hummed in pleasure and satisfaction, deeply wanting to be marked, even if nobody else would see it.

“Please,” she sighed. “I’m yours, all yours…” She felt him groan against her, his hands tightening on her hips.

“And I’m yours. So long as you want me.” Jester grinned and pulled Caleb down into another kiss, guiding his head to the side so she could stretch up and suck a love bite of her own into his neck.

“Mine,” she purred, feeling more ridiculous than sexy, but the stammering moan that answered told her just how much he enjoyed it. They made out lazily for a short while, as Jester’s body recovered and started craving more again. Jester felt her cunt clench as Caleb took her hands and drew them up over her head, holding them there as he laid a matching bruise on her neck. Heat pooled in her belly, that same fog of relaxed submission rolling over her. She liked being pinned down. She _wanted_ to be pinned down.

“Mine,” he growled in her ear, making Jester swear and let out a high whine. “Are you ready to keep going?”

“Yes,” Jester breathed, nodding eagerly. Caleb started to shift but Jester stopped him, pushing her tail against his chest. Her cheeks were on fire.

“We can do it like this. If you want.”

“Do _you_ want?” Jester swallowed thickly and nodded again.

“I like this.” She gestured with her chin up to where her wrists were held. “Apparently.” The flash of lust in his eyes was enough to make her suck in a breath in anticipation. Caleb grinned at her and leaned down to nip her ear, his pleased hum reverberating down her spine.

“I have imagined this more than a few times too.” Jester’s breath was ragged now, arousal flooding her senses and making her dizzy. She laced her fingers in his, the stretch making her feel displayed, exposed, in a delicious and erotic way. Caleb brought her hands back down, laying a soft kiss on the back of each, before guiding them back overhead and pressing them into the mattress, a little harder than before.

“What did you imagine?” Jester whispered. “Tell me…”

“Mmm...I thought about tying your hands up, maybe giving you something to put over your eyes… I want…I want you to put your pleasure in _my_ hands, I do not want you to think about anything but how good you feel.” Jester was moaning softly now, the pressure on her hands and his filthy words in her ear only increasing her desperation.

“Gods, that sounds amazing…” Caleb continued pressing kisses over her neck, her collarbone.

“Would you like that, baby?”

“Yes, _please_ ….” Caleb grinned and reached between her legs, swiping his fingers over slick, hot skin.

“Feels like you like the sound of that very much,” he teased, pinning both her hands under one of his as he stroked her soft labia.

“Yeah, I do, I do,” Jester whined, spreading her legs further.

“Why don’t you tell me some of the things _you_ have fantasized about, when you are all alone at night, hmm? I have told you quite a few of mine. Tell me what you think about when you touch yourself, _Kätzchen._ ”

Jester moaned, high and wanting. She was so turned on she could cry. Caleb’s strokes slowed and he looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

“Am I distracting you?”

“Fuck you,” she gasped, half laughing, half sobbing. He chuckled and dragged one finger over the length of her cunt lazily, like he was in no fucking hurry at all.

“You do not have to,” Caleb reminded her, the teasing tone in his voice gone. “I enjoy playing games but if you do not want to say, that is perfectly alright, ja? Your thoughts are your own.” Jester took a deep breath and shook her head.

“No, I want to, I just - you _know_ how bad I want you right now, Cayleb! Just fuck me already!”

“Ja, I do. Just be patient for me, _Liebling_ , and you will get what you want, I promise.” Jester threw her head back and let out a frustrated groan. She’d be good. She wanted to be _so_ good.

“So, do you want to answer my question?” Caleb’s finger glanced around her opening, teasing, maddeningly not nearly enough. The desperate want inside her was only growing, the intoxicating excitement of being held down and touched like this, being asked to reveal her sexual fantasies…gods, it was all so fucking hot, if she were able to cum just like this, she would have by now.

“I’ve…thought about all kinds of things,” she started, a hot blush coming into her face. “Like, um…you eating me out. A lot. I’ve thought about that one a lot.”

Caleb hummed in satisfaction, his eyes sparkling playfully. One of his fingers dipped inside her, slipping in with so little resistance that Jester barely felt it until he started to move.

“And…bending over for you. You fucking me hard and…maybe pulling on my tail. A little.” Her face was burning. “Or s-spanking me.” Caleb groaned and bent down to take Jester’s mouth in a near obscene kiss; she could feel the length of him pressing against her thigh when he leaned in like this and gods, she just wanted it inside her.

“I did not know you liked that,” he breathed, slipping a second finger into her alongside the first. Jester arched up and whimpered, grinding down into his hand, looking for anything she could get.

“I…yeah…”

“Tell me more, _Kätzchen._ ” Jester bit her lip and whined.

“I had a fantasy for a little while where, um…I had you and someone else at the same time.” Her voice squeaked a little on the end, and whether that was embarrassment or Caleb’s thumb pressing on her clit, she couldn’t say.

“Who?” Jester stared at him. She didn’t expect the question, though if it weren’t for her lust-drunk haze she probably should have, and now she didn’t know if she should answer it.

“Fjord,” she whispered, panic gripping her chest when the name fell from her lips. What was she thinking, talking about another man in bed with her boyfriend? The roguish grin that spread over Caleb’s face made her relax.

“Dirty girl,” Caleb growled in her ear, delighted. A third finger entered her and Jester cried out, her cunt starting to clench around him as she got closer to another climax. “You wanted to take us both? At the same time, you needy thing? Or did you want to take turns with us?” Jester moaned, far too loudly, she was sure. “Or maybe he could fuck us both, ja, baby?”

Jester hadn’t been expecting that, but the image was unbelievably hot and she felt her hips buck up of their own accord, the first spasm of her orgasm just around the corner - and Caleb pulled his fingers out and his hand away. Jester was sobbing with want now, gasping for breath, her legs shaking.

“ _Cayleb!”_

“I have you, _Schatz_ ,” he soothed. “I know, I know. You have been so patient for me.” With that, he settled between her legs and propped her hips up with a pillow. His flushed, leaking cock was rock hard against her and Jester could barely contain her desire. She couldn’t be patient another second.

“Please….” She whimpered. Caleb bent down for another quick kiss and laced his fingers in hers again, pressing her outstretched hands into the mattress.

“That’s it, baby, ohhh, yes,” he moaned, pushing forward and sliding into her in one easy glide. “Gods, Jester, you always feel incredible….” She didn’t have a coherent answer to that, not with him finally, finally filling her up, giving her what she wanted, stretching her in the best possible way. There was no way she was going to last.

The air around them was charged with the heat of their earlier words, but now neither of them had much capacity for speech. The soft sounds of kisses, the rhythmic thrust of his hips into her, their panting and happy moaning filled the room; Jester wanted to reach out and hold on to this moment, every sensation and sound, for as long as possible, but she was overwhelmed with pleasure and knew it would be over soon.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Jester gasped with each thrust into her, each movement of his cock filling her and pressing just right, and then Caleb pinned both her hands in one again and reached between them to rub her clit, his breath stammering as he approached his peak. Jester loved the way he looked like this, his face open and relaxed, the cute way his curls fell when he had sex hair. It wasn’t long before her legs were trembling around his hips, her whole body tensing, and when Caleb bent to mouth at her neck, the new angle of his cock hit her just right and pushed her over. Jester came hard with a wordless cry, the tension snapping like a bowstring, and she writhed under him as she rode out the waves of her climax. Caleb wasn’t far behind her; when he felt the spasms of her cunt contracting powerfully around him his body took over, chasing his orgasm, and soon he collapsed over Jester with a groan and buried his teeth in her shoulder to quiet himself as he released deep inside her.

“Fuck, that was so good,” Jester sighed, wrapping her freed arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss. The two shifted to the head of the bed, still kissing and petting when Caleb cleaned them up.

“I really cannot get enough of you, Jester Lavorre,” Caleb murmured, his eyes already starting to drift shut. Jester grinned and nudged him with her elbow.

“You’re not half bad yourself.” She knew she had to go back to the room she and Beau shared eventually, but it could wait. Jester nuzzled into his embrace; the warmth and weight of his arm around her and the way she fit against his body felt just perfect, like they were made for this. Jester waited as long as she could to break the silence.

“I’m probably gonna have to tell Beau.” Caleb groaned.

“Already?”

“Yeah, you know how she is. She probably is already suspicious since I’ve been down here a long time. If she knows, then she can help us keep it a secret for longer if she’s on our side, you know?”

“Ja, I know you are right. I just do not like it.” Caleb turned his head and looked into Jester’s eyes for a moment before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I am enjoying having you all to myself.” Jester giggled.

“You still will. I am too, but…it’ll be easier.” Caleb nodded.

“Does your mother know about us?” He asked after a few minutes.

“Oh totally, I tell her everything. She’s happy, she likes you.” Caleb visibly relaxed.

“Good, I’m glad.” He was quiet for a moment. “I think mine would have liked you too.” Jester’s heart ached and caught in her throat.

“You think so?” She asked softly.

“Ja, I think she would have been sewing baby clothes from the first time she met you. With little flaps for tails.”

Jester laughed, snuggling closer under his arm. The thought of children, with anyone, felt infinitely far away, but…not unpleasant. She could imagine Caleb holding a little pink tiefling baby, learning how to do everything a father was supposed to. From her very vague and secondhand understanding of what a good father was, Jester thought he would probably be one. Maybe someday.

“You don’t think she would’ve minded having grandkids with _horns_?” Jester teased, ruffling Caleb’s hair. He chuckled.

“Nein, I do not. They wanted more children of their own. I think they would have been thrilled to be grandparents. I mean - someday. In the future. Hypothetically - I did not - never mind.” Jester looked over at him and his face was bright red, flushed down to his neck.

“Sorry. I did not mean to…make it seem like I was saying…”

“Cayleb, relax.”

“I just do not want to come on too strong. I lo- like you very much, Jester, and I am very happy. I am in this for the long haul, you know? I do not jump into anything lightly. But this relationship is new and I do not want to presume that you share these feelings.” Jester leaned over and kissed him, sweet and soft.

“I do. I know I’ve mentioned having, you know, casual relationships before, but that’s not what this is to me. I know you don’t mean you want that, like, right now. But really, Cayleb, I spent most of my adolescence reading trashy novels and daydreaming about guys who fall in love and tell the heroines that they want to marry them and have babies with them and whisk them away. So I mean, it’s kind of a dream come true,” Jester teased. “It’s pretty romantic when you talk like that. I know it’s just talk.”

Maybe one day it wouldn’t be, but for now, it was, and she loved it all the same. She’d had boyfriends before, but none of them were all that serious about her, and she wasn’t too serious about most of them. Jester wasn’t ready to tell Caleb what she suspected was the truth about the depth of her feelings for him, that their “casual” hookup had unlocked something unexpected that had been blossoming inside her for quite some time, but she could tell him that she was serious about this relationship. When Caleb looked at her with so much tenderness, like she was the most incredible thing in Exandria, talked idly about the future, she felt seen and valued in a way nobody had ever made her feel. No matter where this thing went, whether marriage and babies and a house on the ocean were anything but laughable fantasies for people who led the lives they did, she treasured that.

Part of her, the scared girl that still lived in her somewhere, wondered if this was how her Mama had felt with the Gentleman. So infatuated and convinced nothing could possibly go wrong. The idea sent a wave of cold panic through her, tightening her chest, her throat, and she buried her face into the pillow to shoo the thoughts away. She was old enough to know that love, however real, didn’t always turn out like the books. Like it ought to. Sometimes you got the pretty house on the water and the lover and the kids, and sometimes you got pregnant and abandoned and spent two and a half decades being eaten up by fears you couldn't control.

And yet. She pulled herself back to the present, the moment they were in. He was here. She was here. Jester wasn’t her mother and Caleb wasn’t Babenon. They had just had stupidly good sex. He was crazy about her. She didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. That could be enough for now.

Jester yawned and pulled the blanket up around them, sliding an arm around Caleb’s chest, which was already rising and falling slowly and evenly. She pressed a gentle, barely there kiss to the back of his neck.

“ _I think I might be in love with you.”_ Her words were so quiet she hardly heard herself say them, and Caleb didn’t stir. They were weighty on her tongue, but they fell out so easily, and in the instant she said them, they felt _right_. She sighed and nuzzled into the embrace, wrapping her tail around his leg and slotting the rest of her body firmly against him.

This was more than enough for now. This was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thanks for coming on this trip with me, folks. I've really enjoyed all your feedback and it does motivate me!!! It's so great to see your excitement when I work hard on something and you like it, so thank you so much for the support and encouragement!!! I do have some more Widojest fics up here if you want more, as well as other CR ships. ❤️ My next project is going to be Widomauk so keep an eye out for that if you ship it. Love y'all!


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